Arpeggio of Brockton Bay
by Coldredcynic
Summary: Oh boy, yet another Worm crossover. Not the usual type though, let's try a power a bit more esoteric shall we? Suddenly, Leviathan isn't the only ocean powerhouse around anymore. There's foul language ahead, for those of you with sensitive eyes. (Mild) AU. Expect some things to be a lot darker, and some to be lighter. (very short) Hiatus.
1. Interlude 0: Armsmaster

Oh man, what am I even doing? A Worm crossover, that's what. It's all the rage these days I hear, to write one of these.

* * *

Armsmaster, of the Brockton Bay Protectorate, considered himself fairly unflappable. He knew he had his shortcomings, namely an extreme case of social bluntness that often crossed the line into rudeness. He really couldn't help himself about it though. People were just...too finicky. Not like his machines at all.

Still, he was a professional. So when his helmet (and eyes) caught a massive explosion coming from a few miles east, in the docks area, he merely sped his bike up and radioed in that he was going to be first on the scene. The docks were the ABB's turf, and any disturbance of such a scale was likely to be the work of their 'illustrious' leader, Lung.

Arriving at the scene of the explosion, Armsmaster quickly found his assumption correct. Lung was in fine form this night, scales glistening in the light of a raging fire surrounding him and rather quickly spreading over the immediate vicinity. What had gotten him so worked up? There hadn't been any intel about an E88 attack, and the Merchants were still in the process of setting up shop. Only a fool would have provoked Lung like this. Or maybe...

"You seem upset. My request was a simple one was it not? I fail to see why you continue to fail to comply."

Damn it all, a new cape. Who had decided to pick a fight with Lung. _The_ Lung. Well it wasn't the first time a new cape had done something stupid in an attempt to quickly gain a name for themselves, though this ranked high on the list of 'stupid shit to try to do for fame'.

'_Female. Young, probably a teenager' _Armsmaster's helmet helpfully located and isolated the voice from the roar of the inferno around him. He quickly jumped into the fray, aiming for where he detected the voice to be coming from.

"Lung! Stop this now and it doesn't have to escalate any further. Let the girl go and I will see that-"

Any further admonitions were cut off as a tail smashed into his side, launching him several yards into the side of a burning warehouse. His armor easily took the brunt of the impact, helped along by the walls of the building having been weakened by the intense flame.

"_Armsmaster to PRT, Lung is on a rampage. Requesting assistance immediately. New cape on scene, need evac and containment."_

"_We read you Armsmaster, deploying containment squads. Assault, Battery, and Miss Militia are on the way, ETA 7 minutes. Can you hold for that long?"_

He looked around. Lung was still standing roughly where he had been, looking around for either him or the girl. Where was she anyways? Lung didn't look much more developed then he had been, but that was still more than lethal enough.

"_...Affirmative HQ, I can hold. I'd appreciate it if the whole team came though."_

"_Negative Armsmaster, Triumph is currently engaged in an investigation into the anomaly off the coast."_

The voice hesitated a moment.

"_We can deploy the wards if you feel it's needed sir."_

Wasn't that the rub though. Deploy a much needed force multiplier and risk having several teenagers caught in a lethal crossfire with a madman, or keep them safe and risk his own self.

"_Deploy them as part of the containment and retrieval squad for the new cape. Tell them they are NOT to engage Lung or any other ABB cape unless explicitly ordered."_

"_Will do sir, hang tight."_

"Armsmaster. Are you injured? Do you require assistance?"

He spun around, halberd flying up reflexively only to drop when he realized the one speaking to him was the new cape he had heard.

Medium build, a bit on the slender side. A tad short for her age, nothing noticeable. Brown hair down to her shoulders. No costume, simply a...was that a dress? Yes it was, a pale blue dress accompanied by a white and blue raglan. No mask. Brown eyes, staring at him with patient curiosity.

"Girl, you are in severe danger. You need to evacuate while I contain Lung, and then we'll debrief you at the PRT."

"Hebert."

"What?"

"Hebert. Tayler Hebert. That is my name, Armsmaster. Not 'girl'."

"Well Taylor, you need to lea-"

The words were cut short as Lung shot into view, landing from what appeared to have ben a flying leap.

"Foun 'ou 'ou lil' 'unt. I'm 'oing 'o murah 'ou fo' dis."

Distressingly, it appeared Lung had used the time he'd spent contacting the PRT and talking to the girl-Taylor to further evolve his form, a reptilian snout now occupying the space where his mouth normally was, distorting the villain's speech into a nearly unintelligable slur.

"Taylor, run! Now!"

"Do not worry, Armsmaster, there is no danger to me at this time."

"Are you blind, Lung's right there!"

Lung decided to back this statement up by slamming a fist directly into Taylor's body. Armsmaster watched in horror as the entire top half of her body was simply ripped away from the bottom, splattering across the floor behind him. Lung smirked, or smirked as much as his visage would allow.

"Fagking 'idch."

He turned towards Armsmaster.

"'Uo'r 'urn."

A rage settled over Armsmaster, surprising him. He rarely felt such intense emotion. Stupid as the girl had been, no one deserved to simply be ripped apart like she had. He settled into a stance, bringing his halberd to bear.

"You've gone too far now Lung, It's the birdcage for you for sure. I'm actually going to enjoy this."

"_Armsmaster, high energy reading from the anomaly! Heading your way and fast, looked like some sort of projectile!"_

Triumph's voice, full of panic and alarm, filled his helmet. He barely had time to look towards the sea when a massive explosion rocked the ground around him, tossing him back several feet. Picking himself up, he looked to where he'd been and found Lung in a much sorrier state then before. Half his torso seemed to be gone, with shrapnel filling his legs. Even as the damage began to regenerate, Armsmaster heard a voice from behind him

"That was most unpleasant. I am beginning to believe that you will not acquiese to my demand, Lung. As such, I must take measures to ensure it comes to pass."

That wasn't possible, she'd been ripped apart. Turning to look, Armsmaster saw what was indeed seemingly impossible standing before him.

Taylor Hebert, standing without a scratch on her or even her clothes. The only difference between when he'd first saw her and now was the grin she wore on her face. Given the emotionless visage she'd originally presented, it was an unnerving site.

The grin grew larger, and she flung her arms up.

"It's time for a carnival!"


	2. 1-1: D(r)own

Wow, Didn't expect this to blob out of my brain. The whole idea was a 3:00 A.M oneshot to begin with. Still, let's keep going and see where we end up shall we?

OH, and I don't own Worm (that's John McCrae) or Arpeggio (That's Ark Perfomance)

* * *

When people talk about how to stop bullying, there's always a list of things they say you should do. 'Try to find out why they're bullying you', 'ignore them, they'll stop if you don't give them a response', 'find an authority figure and tell them what's happening'.

I can tell you right now it's all bullshit. 'Find out why'? Because people are just fucking dicks sometimes, that's why. 'Ignore them'? Said by someone who was obviously never actually bullied, because that's hard to do when it's in your face every day. 'Tell a teacher'? Like that isn't the first thing any thinking person would do, and I guess out of the three it's the best and most reasonable option, though when one of your bullies has a rich lawyer for a dad it suddenly becomes a lot harder for authorities to actually do anything.

So I chose a fourth option. I just manned up and dealt with it. It's funny how easily you start to ignore the little things, like notes in your locker, being laughed and whispered at as you pass through the hallways. Funny thing about bullies though, is that when you stop responding to the little things, they start moving on to the nastier stuff. Really nasty stuff. 'Stuff me in a locker for two days with used tampons and other assorted trash' kind of nasty.

I'd actually spent time on the hospital for that one. Dehydration, bloody fingers, a general mental breakdown. Hadn't broken me though. Well, the nice doctors said it hadn't. I'd noticed myself I was quieter and more stoic then before, though that must have been hard to do given I was miss no friends anyways. Naturally, nothing came of outright criminal behavior on the part of my tormentors, given that the only 'evidence' that they'd done it was my own testimony.

Dad had been a saint throughout it all, I don't think I'd have managed without him. He even offered to get me out of Winslow and into Arcadia, or even an out-of-city high school, despite the fact that option one would bankrupt him and option two would lose him his job. I told him I could deal with it. They hadn't killed me yet, right?

He didn't seem that happy when I said that to him though.

Anyways, all this was a few weeks ago. Emma, Sophia and Madison had actually softened up a bit since the locker incident. I guess even a lawyer dad can't help you from repeats of that level of bullying. It had been really easy to ignore them after that, because let's be honest, after stuffing me into a locker for two days its really hard for anything to affect me anymore. The downside of escalation I guess.

So now we were all on this big boat, some sort of research ship. Our grade was due for the annual field trip, and this year it'd been decided we were going to learn about oceanography and Marine Biology. This translated to 'stuffing the lot of us on a boat and sailing out to the limits of Brockton Bay'.

Now that sounds like a cool field trip, and it really was I guess, but I wasn't really feeling the whole thing because I can't swim, never could, and being surrounded by very very deep water in all directions wasn't helping my nerves any.

"Oh no Taylor, you seem kinda green. You aren't seasick are you?"

Hurray, Emma was here, playing the concerned friend. Which meant that...

"No, that's her default color Emma. You really need to invest in some makeup Taylor. If you can afford any that is."

Ah, Madison. Always with the verbal attacks. Is it bad I've come to almost welcome this? Humans really are suckers for routine after all.

Wait. I'd come here, to the back of the boat to get away from them. And they always travelled together, so where was...

"Found you, bitch."

Shit. Sophia. The ringleader, the alpha bitch.

"For the record, Madison, Taylor doesn't have to worry about makeup."

"Why's that Sophia?" Madison adopted a pose of honest curiosity.

"Because after today, she won't have to worry about anything at all."

With those rather ominous words, I spun around. Crap, boxed in. Emma on the right, Madison on the left, Sophia in the middle.

"What's that supposed to mean Sophia?" I asked.

"I'm getting really tired of you you bitch. Should have just fucked off after the locker incident. Actually, you should have just died there. But you know what? It's ok. Because I don't fail more then once."

Wait what? Failed, what was she talking about?. Oh no. Oh no no no no.

"Emma, grab her. Madison, go lookout."

Emma duly complied, grabbing my arm and twisting it so that I ended up slammed against the railing.

I couldn't see what happened next, but the next thing I knew I was over the edge and falling.

I was probably screaming too, but that wasn't really registering because I was busy panicking about drowning. The massive turbulence kicked up by the engines wasn't helping, and I found myself quickly submerged and sinking fast

All the little bits and pieces from the internet I'd picked up about swimming were fighting for importance in my brain and I was reduced to just kicking wildly. Which turned out to be bad, because in the confusion I'd ended up upside down.

As my breath finally gave out and I inhaled water, I managed one last thought.

What an utterly shitty way to die.

* * *

"Hello? Are you awake?"

Words. Someone was talking to me.

"Yes, you. Girl. You seem to still be showing signs of living, remarkably enough."

What? I was dead. Drowned. Down with Davy Jones. Who was talking to me?

"You most certainly are not dead, and my name is not 'Davy Jones'"

Had I said that out loud? I decided to try opening my eyes. Surprisingly, that worked.

I wasn't underwater anymore, or at least I didn't seem to be. I was in some sort of room. It looked like the inside of a ship. Steel rivets layered the outlines of a doorway, and the entire room was painted that dull off-grey that you saw in old war movies.

I decided to speak up to my mysterious companion.

"Hello?"

"Yes, hello. We've covered that already."

Weird, I didn't see anyone in the room with me.

"Um, not to be rude, but where am I? Why aren't I dead?"

"You're in my medical bay. You aren't dead because in a rare moment of insane curiosity I decided to recover you as you fell past me. I suspect that had I not done so your body would have rather quickly expired. As it was, you were remarkably close to doing so anyways."

Oh. Wow, I hadn't expected to- wait.

"So we're underwater right now?"

"Yes, quite so. Roughly a mile and a half under."

"You're telling me I just happened to float past...what, a tinker's research post?"

"Tinker? Ah, the classification of hero who utilizes mechanical breakthroughs. No, I was patrolling past and saw your body. We're nowhere near where I found you though. We're currently 10 miles off the coast, as I felt it was quite risky to be so near a settlement."

"Wait, what does that mean, 'so near a settlement'. Oh god, you're not a villain are you?"

"How rude. I am merely what I am. Why would a villain save your life? Are not villains evil people?"

I guess that makes sense. A villain wouldn't have much use for some random girl. But man this voice was pissing me off, can't this person talk face to face?

"You're one to talk about rude! You haven't even shown yourself to me, you're just talking through some loudspeaker!"

"Ah, my apologies. I have no mental model at the moment, so I can't speak face to face."

Wait, what. Mental model?

"Look, if you're a case 53 or your power isn't the prettiest looking I don't care about your looks, I just really would like to talk to an actual physical person."

"Again, you use terms I do not know. I am not a 'case 53' in any event. I am of the Fog, or I was. I simply cannot manifest a mental model for some reason. It is very strange."

"Look, you keep talking about things _I_ don't know. Why can't you just appear in person, why the secrecy?"

"I am telling you, I cannot. I have no-"

"No mental model, yeah I get that. Look, if you don't want to show up it's fine, I guess I shouldn't be so rude to the person who saved my life. Let's try starting over, shall we? My name's Taylor Hebert, thanks for saving me."

"Thanks are not needed, it was only a passing curiosity on my part, Taylor Hebert. I am Pennsylvania, welcome aboard."

Wow, talk about weird names. I thought the shit hollywood used to name their kids was strange.

"Nice to meet you...Penny? Can I call you Penny?"

"No. My name is Pennsylvania, and I am quite proud of that name. It is my designation after all."

Designation? What was this girl talking about?

"Uh, ok, Pennsylvania it is. I don't suppose you could, you know, drop me off somewhere and let me get home?"

"My deepest apologies, but doing so would reveal myself to your authorities, and that would result in complications I have no wish to involve myself in at this time."

Shit, so she wasn't letting me go. Crap. Better or worse, I was this girl's prisoner. My stomach decided to take this moment to voice its displeasure, loudly.

"What was that? I detected some sort of growl in your chamber. Is there an animal of some sort with you?"

"What? No, that's my stomach. I'm hungry. I don't suppose I can get something to eat?"

"Ah, yes. Hunger. That would make sense, given the length of time you have been comatose. Sadly, I have nothing to eat on board. If you desperately need nourishment, you are free to link yourself back up to the IV."

"How can you not have anything to eat on board?"

"Because I do not need to eat, naturally. Why waste space with something I will not use?"

Wait, hold up. Weird name, ship, no food, not willing to appear in person. My brain was slowly starting to link pieces together.

"Pennsylvania?"

"Yes, Taylor Hebert?"

"You...this is crazy, but you aren't...you're aren't the ship are you?"

"Why of course I am. I am FBB-38 _Pennsylvania_, of the Pennsylvania class of battleship, of the Fleet of Fog. It appears you have finally realized this for yourself."

Shit shit shit. What the fuck was going on. Sentient ships? This was miles beyond anything any tinker could have thought up. I felt myself starting to panic. Keep calm, Taylor, keep calm. Calmish, anyways.

"So, I'm currently..."

"Aboard me, yes."

Oh holy shit this was surreal.

"And I can't leave."

"You could, though that would be unwise given the depth at which I am submerged."

"I meant, I can't...you can't drop me off. Somewhere. Anywhere."

"No. I am not willing to risk compromising myself in that manner."

So I was stuck, without resources, on a ship. Underwater. A sentient ship.

"Wait, you said you're a battleship but you're underwater?"

"Given that I do not need a crew, there is no reason not to submerge. If you are wondering, I am currently keeping the medical bay watertight for your sake."

"I was more wondering, 'how does a battleship even move underwater'."

"With my engines of course. How else would I move myself?"

That wasn't what I'd meant at all, but it looked like Penny (I was calling her that in my mind regardless of what she wanted) was the sort to be highly literal. Which made sense, being a ship and all. Or an AI controlling a ship, or whatever 'she' was.

I sat down against the bulkhead. My life was now limited to a 150 square foot room on board a sentient battleship. Dad most certainly thought I was dead. Everyone probably did. What had the three said then? That I'd fallen overboard in a tragic accident? That I'd killed myself out of depression?

Without warning, I started to sob. It quickly evolved into full blown bawling. I was never going to see my dad again. I was trapped here, with a not-unfriendly but certainly not amicable AI/ship thingy.

"Taylor Hebert, you appear upset."

"I am, you stupid ship! I'm trapped here! I'm never going to see anyone ever again! I'll probably die here too!"

She fell silent at that. Crap, now I'd gone and insulted the one thing keeping me from drowning. Smart move Taylor.

"I have come to an idea that I believe might help us both, Taylor Hebert"

I lifted my head up. What could she do, without just dropping me off? Then again, what did I have to lose by listening?

"Yeah, what is it?"

"It appears you wish to be able to return to your home. I myself wish to learn more about your kind, particularly these existences known as 'capes'. Regrettably, I cannot as I have no mental model."

"You keep using that term, what is it?"

"A mental model is a physical manifestation that the fog utilize. Put simply, it is a human model, that we use to move about with. It takes up a not-unsubstantial part of our processing cores, though that is only a problem for the lesser types of ships such as destroyers. The benefit of making one is that we are able to adapt and learn much as humans are."

"Sounds smart. Why can't you make one?"

"I do not know. I have the facility to make one, but I am unable to give myself the order to do so. Something is interfering with my processing ability."

"So, what's your grand idea?"

"Simple. I will make you my mental model. Rather, I will merge your mind into my network, and breakdown and reconstruct your body to house the combined result."

Whoa, hold up. This ship wanted to take over my mind? Nuh uh. Not happening. I told her so too.

"Do not worry, I will not be 'taking over' your mind. I will simply integrate it into the network. You will still retain your unique identity, you will simply also be a part of the Fog network. Normally this would result in great strain on your mind, but given that as far as I can tell I am the only member of the fog currently in existence, the strain will be quite manageable. I predict a 92.3% chance of successful integration. Do you wish to hear the benefits of doing so?"

Well, why the hell not. What did I have to lose right?

"Go on."

"Well, in the short term, you will be able to survive leaving the ship and returning home. Your body will be comprised of nanomaterial similar to my own construction, and thus the limitations of the human body will be surpassed. You will, in effect, become undying, barring the catastrophic destruction of this ship."

Wow, that sounded pretty neat.

"Furthermore, you will essentially have access to all systems on board the ship. This would be beneficial to your safety in the event of a 'villain' attack upon your home city."

"Wait, 'systems'?"

"I am currently armed with twelve 14 inch cannons, fourteen 5 inch cannons, and twelve 5 inch AA guns, in addition to 220 Corrosive Warhead Torpedoes. In addition to this, I am fortunate enough to be fitted with a Super-Graviton Cannon. I am after all, a battleship of the Fog."

Holy shit, that's...jesus, thats a fucking lot of guns.

"You're telling me I'd have access to all that?"

"Barring whatever potential reason I would have to lock you out of the systems, yes. The only reason I would potentially do so is if you meant to fire on a Fog warship, and that is patently impossible at this time."

All that armament...I'd be...fuck. I'd be almost invincible. That kind of firepower, even if I only used a single portion of it...I could fight endbringers. I could be a _hero_.

"This does not come without risks, of course. To fire any of my guns, including the Super-Graviton, I must surface, which puts me at risk. My wave force armor appears to have malfunctioned as well, and is only operating at 50% capacity. I am quite vulnerable as a result, if surfaced. Observations of the entities known as 'endbringers', for instance, show they would easily be capable of damaging me beyond the point of repair. The torpedoes are capable of being fired while submerged however, leaving you with at least some offensive options in a worst case scenario."

Well, shit. There went my dreams of blasting apart world-ending entities.

"So, Taylor Hebert, will you accept my offer?"

Or what, stay here and starve?

"Yeah, I guess I do."

"Excellent! Lay down on one of the operating tables then, please. We shall begin at once."

Was that...excitement in her voice? I obeyed, stripping whatever soggy clothing I still had on and lying down on the table.

A few tools dropped down from the ceiling, and the last thing I heard before slipping out of consciousness was the now definitely excited voice of Penny saying something about this not hurting too much, but please try not to panic.


	3. 1-2: Carn(iv)al

Oh lord what is even going on. How am i doing this so fast, This wasn't supposed to be anything but a oneshot. look what you all made me do.

Also, fight scenes are difficult, as was syncing this chapter with the interlude. Tell me how I did, yeah?

Don't own Worm (John McCrae), don't own Arpeggio (Ark performance)**  
**

* * *

Somehow, the process of having your brain uploaded into a massive tactical network didn't actually hurt at all.

I remembered reading something about how the brain had no pain nerves and- _Accessing database article #12509 – Neural Biology in Humans-_ Huh, there it was, the article I'd read. Along with hundreds of other articles, research papers, and excerpts on the brain.

Wow. Guess Penny worked fast.

I got up off the table, looking around. Same room, only now there was a definite familiarity to it, like I'd seen it thousands of times before. A part of me now probably had.

"_Welcome to the Joint Tactical Network, Taylor Hebert. How are you feeling?"_

I jumped. That hadn't come from the ship, that was...

"_Pennsylvania?"_

"_Yes, Taylor Hebert?"_

"_Are we speaking in my mind?"_

"_To be more accurate, we are speaking through the Joint Tactical Network, to which your mind is now integrally linked."_

"_So basically I don't need to actually speak to talk to you."_

"_Correct. The process of utilizing speech to talk is vastly more inefficient than utilizing the JTN, at least between members of the Fog. You will still need to use your speech for other members of humanity."_

Right, so no telepathy. Just me and Penny. Connected at the brain.

As I walked around the room, testing my body out, I was surprised to note that the distant presence of cold, that had most likely come from being in a metal room deep underwater, had muted itself entirely.

"_Pennsylvania, What changes exactly happened to my body?"_

"_Ah, well to begin with, nothing has physically changed location or purpose. You are still completely human to any inspection. What has changed is the composition of your body. Instead of being made of various organic compounds you are now completely made up of nanomaterial, though you will find that any biological processes you wish to continue with you will be able to. You may no longer require food or sleep, but observance and data shows humans are wont to enjoy these things."_

Well that was a relief. It would have been a bit strange if I no longer ate or slept or various other 'biological functions'.

"_What about the fact I don't feel cold any more inside here?"_

"_Again, a benefit of being made of nanomaterial. Any biological function you don't wish to occur won't. So if you don't want to be 'cold', you won't be. Your body is also much more durable, though for the sake of conserving material I have made it so the more superhuman of your abilities will only activate during combat mode. I suppose I should go over this distinction now, to prevent confusion and panic later."_

"_Yes please. I'd rather like to know everything about who and what I am now."_

"_You are still 'Taylor Hebert', that has and will not change. Well, for the most part it won't. You see, in order to keep you 'you', I had to differentiate various processes in priority and allocate certain runtimes to you or me exclusively."_

This was starting to remind me of how the lectures in Computer Science went.

"_Can you simplify that a bit?"_

"_Some of the functions of a mental model are yours exclusively. They exist only as 'Taylor Hebert'. Others exist only as 'Pennsylvania'. Some exist as a merger of both."_

"_Wait, we're going to merge? I thought you said we'd stay separate!"_

"_We will. It is merely a requirement of merging an organic mind into the JTN. The only time we will function together as one would be during active combat mode, because the processing power required to manage the weaponry and targeting systems would put undue strain on your mind. Thus, during combat, you will maintain conscious control over your own movements, along with conscious control of what is being targeted and what guns will be used. I will simply manage the 'how' of both._

I relaxed at that. So I'd still be myself, I'd just have a computer in the back of my head. That's...still kinda weird, but whatever. In for a penny and all that.

"_Will I...change any? During it? You and I aren't exactly the same type of personality."_

"_Well, you will probably adopt a touch of my personality while in combat mode. You certainly will not lose your own agency if that is what worries you."_

"_Yeah, that was sorta the fear there. You mentioned that even out of fighting you'd still maintain control over stuff. What stuff?"_

"_Administrative functions, maintenance of the ship, maneuvering. We'd go where you wanted and when, I would simply ensure it happened. Essentially, you have become both my mental model and my 'captain' to phrase it in a way you will understand easily. You have command of the ship and it's weapons, I am simply coordinating everything to run smoothly."_

That was a much clearer picture. Why didn't she just use that analogy in the first place? Oh wait. AI. Sorta literal there. So I was the captain and mental manifestation of a battleship. Neat. Idly, I wondered what classification of power that gave me. Master? Tinker? Where would I put her anyways? Just steam up to dad's place and...

The thought of dad brought me back to my original quest.

"_So Pennsylvania."_

"_Yes?"_

"_Now that I'm all supered-up, I can leave right?"_

"_Correct. The depth and temperature of the water will no longer affect you. Will you be disembarking then?"_

"_Er, yeah. I'll be heading home. Do I just say 'open' or-"_

As soon as I 'spoke' the word open, the bulkhead of the medical bay shot open, flooding the compartment with water. Instinctively I flinched, expecting the crushing cold and pressure of a mile and a half of water. Instead, I was surprised to simply be enveloped in it, floating around as if I was born in it while feeling a muted sense of cold, like if I'd just walked out of a sauna.

This was really really weird. Could I manifest flippers or something? I did just that, only to look down and see the same feet I always had. Well so much for that.

"_Pennsylvania, do you really expect me to swim up there like this? That's going to take a while."_

"_You are free to bring us closer to the surface, though I must strongly advise against it. Revealing ourselves would be inadvisable at this time."_

Nothing for it then. I kicked out of the med bay and swum to the outside of Penny. Looking up, I saw a distant twinkle, just barely visible in the depths. Exhaling a breathe of air I wasn't aware I had even taken (and marveling at the lack of a need to breathe in again) I began the long swim upwards to the surface.

* * *

After what seemed like hours, _47 minutes and 19 seconds_ a helpful little clock that briefly popped up in the upper right of my vision told me, I finally popped my head above water. It was nighttime, which I suppose was natural, given I'd been pushed over at around 11 AM. Looking around, I saw off to the right the distant twinkle of lights that indicated Brockton Bay. Right, 10 miles off the coast. Joy of joys. I began to start the long long laborious process of swimming those ten miles through open ocean when Penny's voice popped in.

"_Taylor Hebert, why do you not simply augment your body?"_

Right, not human anymore. Duh. Well, now to figure out how to do this, exactly. Was there an activation phrase?

"Chi pa pa, Chi pa pa, my legs go fast fast!"

Where the hell had _that_ come from? I was blushing in embarrassment from that just from saying it.

"_Why do you make things so complicated? If you wish your legs to be stronger, simply envision them being so."_

Right, mental model. Keyword _mental_.

With that, I focused hard on making my legs the equal of any Olympic swimmer. I resumed the swim back and-

_Whoa!_

-and I was moving at least thrice as fast. Probably more than that. This was way beyond any Olympian. I was making _progress_!

With my new and improved swimming prowess, (and wasn't that a sign of the difference, from deathly afraid of water to expert swimmer. Then again, being afraid of water was retarded for a ship so Penny had probably just cut that out of me) it took only _1 hour 56 minutes 38 seconds _to reach solid shore.

I lifted myself up and over the barrier and found myself smack in the middle of the dockyards. Naked. At night. This...wasn't the best place to make landfall.

"_Pennsylvania?"_

"_Yes? Oh good, you've reached land. Excellent."_

"_Yeah about that. I don't suppose I can nanomaterial up some money can I?"_

"_...It would not be impossible, but why would you need to?"_

"_Well, I need clothes. I'm naked right now. That isn't good."_

"_Ah yes, Humans cover themselves with clothing. Well, make some."_

Right. Why bother making money if I can just make clothes? I envisioned the outfit I'd been wearing on the boat and...

This wasn't it. What was this? A dress and a raglan? Ewww.

"_Pennsylvania, this wasn't what I wanted. Did it muck up?"_

"_No, This is what I thought would look appropriate."_

"_What? Appropriate? You don't even wear clothes!"_

"_Nevertheless, I...I like that outfit. It looks proper. I cannot adequately explain it."_

Well, better then naked. I could always get some actually nice clothes when I got back home.

Speaking of which, I should probably get on that. I took a moment to observe whereabouts on the docks I was. Dad had taken me here enough times after having to pick me up from school early I knew the area fairly well.

Crap, it really was dark. I had to squint just to get a read on -_Activating night vision filters-_ and now it was bright as day. This 'made of nanomaterials' thing was really coming in handy. With my new found ease of vision (hell I didn't even need glasses anymore!) I managed to determine I was...in an area of the docks I knew nothing about. Great. Time to wander inwards and hope I found something familiar.

What I did know was that the docks were basically cut in three. About half was the Azn Bad Boys' turf. Roughly an eighth was the newest frontier of the Empire 88. The rest was neutral ground, for the time being. Both gangs were adopting what might be deemed an 'aggressively expansionist policy.' Naturally, this meant that bullets and powers were flying pretty much every other night. Sometimes every night. This in turn meant that I was taking absolutely no chances in being as unnoticeable as possible. The last thing I wanted was to have to test first hand how bulletproof nanomaterial was.

"_Oh, it's entirely bulletproof. In combat mode at least. Right now it's mimicking human skin, which is not very bulletproof at all I am afraid."_

Right, thank you Penny, for that comforting interjection.

After about _38 minutes 5 seconds _of sneaking around, I finally started recognizing a few of the more unique warehouses, and by unique I meant ones that weren't covered in gang graffiti or broken down and abandoned. So I was reaching familiar ground. Just a few more minutes and I'd be out of the docks and free to head home.

Naturally, things went to shit.

Passing by one of the larger warehouses, I heard a voice growling out what appeared to be orders. Freezing, I flattened myself against the wall and focused on the voice.

_Activating audio enhancements_

"Right, these fucking kids managed to slip out from under us once. I am NOT letting them slip out again. You fuckers see ANYTHING that isn't flying our colors you shoot it, you fucking understand? Anything. I don't want a single living thing that isn't one of us alive getting out of the docks tonight. ESPECIALLY not some punkass teen capes! You got that you cocksuckers?"

A rousing chorus of "Yes Lung!" followed.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Lung. Was here. With what sounded like a hundred ABBs. And they were hunting kids.

Fuck me running, why can't I catch a break?

A part of me, a cold, dispassionate voice, told me to simply walk away. This was no interest of mine. The actions of these children had obviously drawn the ire of a powerful crime lord and that was their own damn fault.

The rest of me told that bit to shut the fuck up, we were helping these kids.

"_Pennsylvania? I need that combat mode. Now."_

"_Understood. Are we engaging as a vessel or as a mental model?"_

"_Just as a model for now. Knowing Lung we may need the ship's guns though."_

"_Understood, converting corrosive torpedoes into surface to surface missiles now. Engaging combat protocols."_

A rush of raw power flew through me. I felt bits shifting, hardening and then-

* * *

Then I was analyzing the area around me, noting structural weakness and hard points, marking tactical chokepoints and killzones.

The enemy force numbered 138, of which 137 were human militia, armed with a variety of chemical projectile weapons. Negligent threat. The remaining enemy combatant was a parahuman, noted in the organic memory banks as possessing an ability that multiplied his combat ability exponentially as time went by, along with a very fast regeneration property.

Estimates garnered from unreliable intel placed the time to overpowering threat at around 32 minutes of active combat. A single corrosive warhead at this time would neutralize all 137 negligent threats as well as place the priority combatant in a state of prolonged regeneration, if not outright neutralizing him as well.

_Prepping missile for laun-_

No, we are NOT fucking launching a missile! Weren't we supposed to stay low? Let's just make ourselves all super and fight him hand to hand or something.

_Acknowledged. Ceding majority control to organic factor._

* * *

Man, that was scary. One minute I was me and then I was a fucking machine. I still felt it, in the back of mind. But at least it was muted.

"_I thought you said the personality shift would be minimal!"_

"_Apologies. The combat protocols had to be adjusted for the first time. It will not happen again."_

Right, so. 137 ABBs and Lung. Let's see what a mental model can do.

I looked up to the roof. Probably the best tactical entry would be from the top. Element of surprise would be maximized from there, humans rarely engage in three dimensional thinking.

I jumped, in a single step, to the top of the roof. _85 feet_.

The roof was flat, with a few of those cooling bits you always see on top of buildings like this. There was a skylight too, lucky me. Taking a moment to ready myself, I levered the skylight open and jumped down.

The first thing that occurred as I landed was 276 eyes landing on me. Shit, I hadn't even put a mask on or anything. So much for secrecy.

"You will all leave this area, peacefully. You will not seek out your targets. In return, hostilities will not be engaged."

Wow, the personality shift at work. That sounded...really stiff.

Laughter. This rabble was laughing at me. A rough rasping laugh permeated above the rest. I turned to the source. Lung.

"And what are you going to do if we say no, girly?"

I raised my hand towards him, fingers splayed.

_Activating graviton manipulator_

"This."

My hand squeezed shut.

A whump of rushing air, as the space around Lung's torso collapsed inwards. Flicking my fingers open, I directed the mass of gravitons backwards, hurling the mangled body into a wall at

The laughter stopped.

The _ratatatatatat_ of machine gun fire replaced it, as the ABB gangers opened fire at me. Flicking a finger, a hexagonal shield appeared, stopping the bullets roughly a foot from my body.

_Personal model wave force armor holding at 98% capacity. Regeneration of 4% per minute initializing_

I flicked my other hand out and swept it over the assembled ABB members. A rush of force accompanied it, bowling them over and knocking them into walls and each other. I moved between them, variably kicking and punching them as I maneuvered into melee range, holding the shield at just above my skin to prevent any errant bullets.

The decision to hold the shield was a wise one, as a massive explosion rocked the warehouse, accompanied by a wave of fire that combined with the blast wave knocked me several tens of feet backwards, into a fairly wide open clearing. The fates of the ABB after that were unknown, but combined with my own efforts it appeared they had been removed from the fight.

So now it was me and a pissed off Lung. Wonderful.

Pitching my voice, I called out in one last attempt to stop this. Given my obvious display of force, why was he continuing?

"You seem upset. My request was a simple one was it not? I fail to see why you continue to fail to comply."

Not exactly what I'd intended, but it got the point across.

At that moment, two things happened. The first was the arrival of an armored man who I quickly identified as Armsmaster, a member of the local Protectorate. Great, I had backup. Of a sort. On the other hand, I had no way to obscure my features. I was as open as a book, in front of a member of the very force Penny was so reluctant to reveal herself to. Wonderful.

The second was actually a much greater cause for alarm.

"_Taylor Hebert, I have identified a team of humans currently hovering above my location in a helicopter. It appears that activating the combat protocols released enough energy that I have appeared on their sensors."_

"_Oh god, that's not good. Have they seen you?"_

"_No. At this time they simply appear to be taking readings. I am detecting sonar and infrared waves bouncing off me. However, I am able to mask my signature effectively enough that they will not be able to make out my actual form. As long as we do not draw on too much additional power, we should remain undetected."_

"_Right, I'll try not to use anything too flashy."_

My attention was drawn back to Armsmaster, as he appeared to be saying something.

"-rther. Let the girl go and I will see that-"

Whatever he was saying, Lung didn't like it. The tail smashing Armsmaster through the side of a building spoke volumes about how little Lung appreciated the interruption.

I decided that linking up with an ally, even a tentative one, took priority. I jogged over to where I calculated Armsmaster would have landed. Luckily, he didn't look too beaten up. Guess that armor of his lives up to its reputation.

"Armsmaster. Are you injured? Do you require assistance?"

He jumped up and into a fighting stance, relaxing slightly when he saw me.

"Girl, you are in severe danger. You need to evacuate while I contain Lung, and then we'll debrief you at the PRT."

Well his reputation for bluntness bordering on rudeness was certainly true as well. I felt a twinge of annoyance.

"Hebert."

"What?"

"Hebert. Taylor Hebert. That is my name, Armsmaster. Not 'girl'."

"Well Taylor, you need to lea-"

The remainder of his sentence died off as Lung decided to make himself known again.

Wow, I'd really done a number on him if this was how he looked now. Full snout, scales all over his body, a barbed tail flicking around behind him, foot long claws on his hands. Man, he was mad.

"Found 'ou' ou' lil' 'unt. I'm 'oing 'o murah 'ou' fo' dis."

God that snout did nothing for his speech.

"Taylor run! Now!"

Why worry? I had my shield up and my body was tougher then normal anyways. I could regenerate at any event as well.

"Do not worry, Armsmaster. There is no danger to me at this time."

"Are you blind, Lung's right there!"

Lung took that moment to punch me, hard. I was suddenly given the interesting privilege of 'seeing' the world through my right leg, as it appeared his fist had gone straight through my shield and the rest of my upper body as well. Curiously, it seemed the mimicry had extended to inside my body as well, as I saw some rather large splatters of blood and organs behind me.

That had been very unpleasant. Not painful, but there was an unpleasantness to it all the same. I was very piqued at Lung for having done that.

"_Damage reports indicate a 54% loss of body mass from the mental model. Beginning regeneration. Tactical options, Taylor Hebert?"_

"_Pennsylvania, I am very sorry, but I'm afraid I'll have to ask for something flashy."_

"_Understood. We will deal with the ramifications as they come. What are your orders?"_

"_Prep a corrosive missile."_

"_Understood. Missile prepped and ready."_

"_Launch."_

"_Missile away. 12 seconds to impact."_

My regeneration happened to finish right as the missile impacted. A screeching wail erupted as a spiraling dome of energy appeared directly over Lung, engulfing him. After a moment, it detonated and carved a large crater in the concrete beneath him. Incredibly, he wasn't dead. I picked out his body in the smoking aftermath, missing half of his torso and with his legs pierced with debris, but still alive. Regenerating fast as well. _38 seconds to complete enemy regeneration._ What did it take to kill this guy?

"That was most unpleasant. I am beginning to believe you will not acquiesce to my demand, Lung. As such, I must take measures to ensure it comes to pass."

I vaguely made out Armsmaster standing a few feet away, staring at me with his jaw slightly open.

"_Pennsylvania, prep and arm another 19 missiles."_

"_Processing...Missiles ready and armed, awaiting launch command."_

A phrase, picked out at random, entered my mind. I had no idea where it came from, but as I grinned and flung my arms up for added dramatics, It simply felt...right...to say it.

"It's time for a carnival!"

"_Fire!"_

"_Missiles away!"_


	4. 1-3: Cont(r)act

I keep writing longer and longer chapters. Curse you all and your desire to see more. In other news, I love getting reviews of "more please." it makes my heart sing to know there are people who want me to continue my story. But you know what would make my heart sing even more? reviews of substance. Tell me WHY you want to see more, not just that you do. I'll write either way, but think of it as a favor in return for the story I'm bringing you.

Don't own Worm (John McCrae), don't own arpeggio (Ark Performance)

* * *

For a moment, nothing happened. I could see Lung's snout cracking into the beginnings of a smirk.

Armsmaster on the other hand had jumped away. Had I scared him that much? Or did he have some way of knowing what was going to happen?

In any event, Lung's smirk died, buried under the absolute cacophony that was 19 corrosive missiles slamming into the general vicinity simultaneously. Hopefully the rest of him had as well too. Fucker.

As the noise and light faltered down, the energy within the warheads spent, I eagerly leaned forward, trying to catch a sight of my first (and hadn't I set the bar high?) opponent.

Sadly, there wasn't anything to see. Either I'd destroyed him so completely there wasn't anything left or he'd managed to escape during the confusion of the barrage.

"_The second option is highly unlikely. The effects of a corrosion warhead upon naked human flesh has been observed to be extremely disintegrative in nature. The molecules are literally striped apart from each other."_ Penny said, suddenly.

"_Yes, but then again Lung wasn't really human at this point. Rumor has it he fought off an endbringer solo."_

"_Hmm. In that case, perhaps we should have utilized the 5 inch cannons."_

"_But he would have been able to dodge the shells, right? The reason the warheads worked was because they're homing."_

"_Ah, I forgot I hadn't explained my armament fully. This isn't quite the time for details given the potential of further hostilities, but in effect my cannons function as railguns. Rest assured nothing short of some sort of teleportation would be able to dodge one of my shells."_

OK, ignoring the utterly insane fact I had _railguns_ at my disposal, had penny just sounded proud of that? In my limited experience with the AI, she wasn't really the type for inflections. She must _really_ like these guns of hers.

_Unidentified life forms detected_, an alert beeped up on the HUD that had overlaid itself in my vision, bringing my focus back to the battlefield.

Turning to face the new arrivals, I was confronted with the oddest collection of individuals I had ever seen. A short blonde, wearing black and purple. Some punk wearing all black leathers. A large powerfully built girl in tattered jeans and a checkered shirt. And to cap it off, some weirdo in Ye Olde Renaissance Faire garb. None of them could have been over 18, save the large girl. Wait.

"You are the children Lung was planning to murder."

"That's us alright, though our egos would probably prefer the term 'teens'." The biker stepped forwards. "Thanks a lot for that by the way, we'd slipped him once but he'd brought way too many to try anything this time. We honestly thought we were goners. Guess we owe you a pretty big solid."

"Oi Grue, we ain't got time to yap gums. PRT's gunna be here any minute with the carnage this chick managed." Big girl spoke up. My eyes flittered around the area to ascertain the truth of her statement, and for a moment I was in shock. The entirety of the vicinity, in a 400 foot radius, was utterly flattened. Fires burned here and there, and there were 20 distinctive craters carved into the ground, mostly overlapping each other around where Lung had been standing.

"_Maybe 20 warheads in total was a bit much." _I admitted to myself and Penny.

"_For purposes of concealment yes, but you cannot deny the effectiveness in eliminating your enemy. On the topic of concealment, the helicopter has been joined by another. I feel they are about to begin diving operations. What shall we do, Taylor Hebert?"_

"_Have they figured out what you are?"_

"_I do not know. Intercepted radio communications indicate they are aware there is a large mechanical entity near their city. They appear to be attempting to utilize depth charges, not that they shall be very successful. Damaged as it is, my WFA is still more then capable of absorbing explosives of such a caliber."_

So basically I had two options at this point. Reveal Penny (and myself) to the PRT and attempt for negotiation, since I really did want to be a hero. Or, get back to penny and have her hightail it out of there.

Option one was hampered by the fact I had no idea what the PRT's response to a fucking battleship was going to be. Option two was hampered by the fact I had no idea how fast Penny could move. Well, At least I could find the answer to one of those two questions right now.

"_Pennsylvania, how fast can you move submerged?"_

"_Not fast enough to escape any attempts to follow me, I'm afraid, if that was your plan."_

Well shit, guess it was option one.

"_Right, don't do anything, I'll do my best to get back to you as fast as I can. So about two hours."_

"_Oh, you don't need to physically travel back. You can just break your body down and reassemble it aboard the ship."_

Hold the fucking phone, I could teleport?

"_Why didn't you tell me that before I started swimming up?"_

"_Because it only works when returning to the ship."_

Oh. Well I guess that made sense. Right, let's try doing that then. Turning my head back to the assembled teens I'd saved, I coughed lightly to get their attention.

"What you do now is of no concern of mine. I have saved you, and you are free to go. I would advise you not upset any more powerful villains however." With that, I focused hard on the idea of _Being back on the ship being back on the ship._

To my surprise (and the surprise of the teens, judging by their sudden gasps) I found myself disintegrating rapidly from my feet upwards.

"Wait, hold up where are you-"

and with that last cry from blondie, I found myself standing aboard Penny's bow. I felt the cool sensation of water surrounding me once more. What a neat trick, I had a 'let's go home' spell.

"_Right, what's the situation Pennsylvania."_

"_The two helicopters have been joined by a third, this one much larger. I suspect this is the transport containing the depth charges they will be sending down. What will we do now, Taylor Hebert?"_

"_The only thing we really can do. We surface and open negotiations."_

"_Despite this being the exact scenario I had hoped to avoid?"_

"_That was before we fired missiles at their city. Wasn't the whole point of having a mental model to interact with humans more anyways?"_

"_I do suppose you have a point. Very well, commencing surfacing."_

I felt a jolt as Penny began rising up. Strangely, we seemed to be heading straight up rather then facing upwards, like I'd seen actual submarines to on TV. Guess it came with being supertech.

About _3 minutes 21 seconds_ (that clock was REALLY handy) we finally breached the surface, throwing up a massive spray of water as Penny settled onto the surface. My ears were suddenly wracked by the whirring sound of helicopter blades, and I found myself the subject of at least 3 spotlights. Time to face the music.

* * *

For a long long moment, no one spoke. I certainly wasn't going to be the first to speak (I remembered something dad had once said about the first side to talk in 'talks' always came away the loser) and the assembled PRT seemed to be struck dumb at the sudden appearance of a battleship right below them.

Finally, someone cracked.

"Unidentified cape, stand down and disable any armament you may have as well as any powers active! PRT forces will contain and bring you to HQ for interrogation. If you do no resist you will not be harmed!"

Well that certainly wasn't a great start, and I wasn't following a word of that idiot's orders.

"_Pennsylvania, three AA turrets, make sure they know they're active."_

"_Affirmative."_

Three of the high-angled turrets swiveled around and pointed themselves at the three copters, each humming with power and glowing a faint red inside the barrel. Time to take a strong position of strength now that the silence had been broken.

"Firstly, I will be ignoring any and all 'orders', 'suggestions' or 'threats'. Secondly, I will only talk to a registered Protectorate cape, or official PRT representative _above_ the rank of 'grunt'. Lastly, and most importantly, you will all move away from the vessel _immediately_." I replied calmly and slowly, though the effect might have been lost since my voice appeared to be emanating from loudspeakers all over Penny's length.

My (or Penny's) sensors picked up the sounds of a muffled argument over the din of the three copters maneuvering a safer distance away. I kept my turrets trained on them in any event. After a moment, a new deeper voice called out over the speaker.

"I'm really sorry about that, You sorta spooked some of the newbies here with that sudden water show. My name's Triumph, You may have heard of me, if not I'm part of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. That high enough on the food chain for you?"

Well, I guess a cape that wasn't Armsmaster worked. I'd thought about this during the ascent, and using my real name was sorta stupid. What to call myself had been a bit of an issue, but I'd finally come to a conclusion.

"Greetings, Triumph. I am Dreadnought. I assure you, I mean no harm to you our your city. As you may suspect, I am a fairly new cape. I'm interested in working with you. I certainly do not desire any altercation." Left unsaid was my fervent belief I would _win_ any such altercations, and quite handily too.

"Right, nice to meetcha Dreadnought. I can't really sign you up, you'll have to come along with us to speak to the brass about that. That ship of yours is gonna have to stay out here though."

Well, I'd expected that.

"_Pennsylvania, is there some sort of lockdown mode you can enter?"_

"_Yes. I can activate the WFA and shutdown all but my most essential systems. I assume you wish for me to do so while you continue negotiations?"_

"_Yeah, pretty much. Just, if anyone tries to board you at all, dive as fast as you can."_

"_Affirmative. Entering lockdown mode."_

Penny suddenly erupted in a deep crimson across the entirety of her structure, as the turrets swiveled down and powered off.

"Right, gonna assume that wasn't some sorta attack seeing as we're all still in the air. So, you coming along ma'am?"

Right, Triumph was still there.

"Yes, I will be accompanying you to discuss the matter of joining. I simply put my vessel into a secure and safe mode. I would greatly appreciate it if no one came aboard without my express permission."

"Yeah sure, no problem. We know better than to fuck with a tinker's toys. You'll let us set down though right?"

Ah, so they thought I was a tinker. Well, no need to correct them just yet. Wordlessly, I motioned to a somewhat open section of Penny's aft and opened up the wave force armor to a large enough degree that a single helicopter would be able to set down. As the larger one did so, I made my way to where it was landing and prepared to meet the PRT.

* * *

Triumph had turned out to be very friendly on the ride back to the PRT HQ. He'd refrained from asking too many questions, and didn't question my lack of a mask at all. He did give me a strange look when I first boarded though.

"You look familiar. Have I seen you before?" He'd asked.

The answer was most likely 'yes' given that the PRT had probably been at least notified of a missing person out in the bay. I wasn't going to tell him that though.

"Perhaps. I do not recall meeting you before however." I'd responded, and that had been that.

_16 minutes 28 seconds _later, we set down atop the PRT HQ. I was firmly, though not unkindly, escorted into an elevator and down several stories, ending up in a rather blank looking office.

Inside the office, behind a desk absolutely drenched in papers, stood a fat middle-aged woman. Next to her stood -

Shit. Armsmaster. Of course the one guy who I'd told my real name to was here.

"Taylor Hebert? You're Dreadnought?"

Oh boy, here we go. So much for that position of strength in the deal.

Fatty turned to Armsmaster.

"You're sure this is the same girl? According to this report here," She picked up a random piece of paper from her desk, "Taylor Hebert is missing, presumed dead, after falling overboard during a school field trip. You're telling me she's now in possession of a military vessel AND the girl who fought and presumably killed Lung?"

"She's the same girl Director."

"Well isn't that just fucking perfect." Fatty director took a seat and sighed, wiping her forehead as she did so.

"Alright, Miss Hebert, I'm going to be very very direct here. You are officially the biggest headache I have ever had to deal with. That battleship you have out there is freaking out every military base and government agency on the eastern seaboard, and on top of that you've just completely upset the balance of gang politics in the city proper. Oh, and committed a murder but I don't quite care since any advantage Lung gave us in return for not carting him to the birdcage is nullified by the _fucking battleship_ you've given us."

Now hold on, I hadn't given them anything. I made to say so but Fatty cut me off.

"You're about to tell me you haven't actually given me anything. But think carefully Miss Hebert. You're missing, quite soon to be pronounced dead. Legally you don't exist anymore. An unknown cape, that's you by the way, is wanted for the destruction of a square mile of dockyard property and the presumed murder of Lung. It is all very nice indeed that you wish to work with us, as you really have no other choice."

Fuck fuck fuck. So much for negotiating.

"So, what exactly do you wish of me? I presume you will hold me in reserve for serious threats."

She smiled, and it wasn't the nice warm bubbly type.

"Not exactly. No one outside of this room knows as of yet that the girl who fought Lung is the same girl who owns that ship. Actually, no one officially knows who owns the ship at all. Armsmaster here tells me you have at least one power beyond control of the ship, so here's my proposal. Taylor Hebert, who has not yet decided on a cape name and who has yet to be tested for her power rating, will have actually not died, but triggered. She's also graciously decided to join the wards. Meanwhile Dreadnought, a Tinker 9 who's tinker quirk is building a single advanced piece of technology, will join the Protectorate alongside her extremely advanced warship, the construction of which has been funded by the PRT as part of a clandestine attempt at gaining an upper hand against the endbringers."

She took a moment to take a drink of water from a bottle on her desk.

"Dreadnought is very shy and prefers to simply live inside her ship, so the lack of PR won't be a problem. The fact that the two have arrived somewhat close in time to each other will of course be explained away as a strange coincidence, backed up by liberal amounts of hush money if needed. Of course, the wards and the PRT will be notified of the duality of your existence to prevent unneeded questions. Does this sound good to you? I hope it does, since you don't have much say in it."

My mind whirled. So I was going to be two capes, one with Penny's direct power and the other as a mental model. Oh, and I was going to be Taylor Hebert outside of costume too. Three lives. Two and a half, really, given Dreadnaught's supposed shyness.

Wait a minute. If I was going to join the PRT, then I could get something done about Sophia and her gang.

"I don't suppose the fact I was almost murdered as a trigger event comes into this at all?"

Fatt'ys eyebrows rose.

"That's a serious accusation, but if it's the case we would naturally prosecute the culprits as harshly as possible. I don't suppose you have any evidence, or at least names?"

Crap. I didn't have anything beyond my own word. It's not like anyone else at Winslow was going to speak up this time, not that anyone had even been there to see.

"I...I don't have any hard evidence. But I can give you names. Emma Barnes, Madison Clements, and Sophia Hess. Sophia was the one to actually push me over, but the other two helped."

Fatty's eye had twitched at the names.

"I...see. Well, rest assured I'll do what I can do have these three dealt with. As to my proposal, your answer is...?"

Well I suppose a 'we'll try' was better then a 'we don't care', and distasteful as the 'offer' was, it was this or try to escape and become at best a vigilante. I'd gone into this wanting to be a hero, and a hero I was going to be. Even if the method involved was bitter.

"I suppose I have no real choice, as you have said. I accept your proposal."

A thought occurred to me.

"I don't suppose I can see my dad now?"

Fatty's face softened somewhat.

"Of course, we'll contact him and have him come over. He'll be needed for the legalities surrounding you joining the wards."

She suddenly stood up and walked over, offering her hand.

"In all the excitement I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Emily Piggot, Director of the Brockton Bay PRT and direct overseer of the wards. I'm your new boss."

No other real option for it then. I was going to be a hero. I took her hand and shook it firmly.

* * *

What followed was mostly just boring paperwork about me not giving out names, agreeing to follow orders, that sort of thing. The highlight was when dad showed up. Many tears were shed on both sides.

"Oh god sweetie I thought I'd lost you."

"I thought I'd lost you too, dad. I was so scared down there," I replied, muffled into his shoulder as he kept his bear hug on me tight. "And then I just..iunno. I knew I could do things, I knew I had a purpose. Didn't I tell you I'd always wanted to be a hero?"

He drew back and smile a bit at that.

"You sure did kiddo. Never thought it'd happen though."

He was less pleased when told that I effectively had no choice but to join the wards.

"I thought this was voluntary! You're making it sound like she'll...like she'll go to jail if she doesn't join!"

Oh god, this was the bit I hadn't looked forward too.

"Dad...I kinda will."

"What?!"

"Um, you know that big fight that happened at the docks?"

He nodded slowly.

"Yeah, Charlie woke me up to tell me work was canceled for the foreseeable future...Oh god don't tell me that was-"

"Yeah, that was me. I kinda might sorta got in a fight with Lung."

Oh boy, that set Mount Saint Dad for sure.

"You WHAT?! Your first hours as a cape and you decide to go fight Lung?! Taylor are you crazy?"

Piggot chose this moment to break in.

"Mr. Hebert, your daughter did more then fight Lung. It appears she managed to defeat him. As far as we can tell, permanently."

His face drained.

"Wait, You're saying she..she killed him? My girl killed Lung?"

"As of this time, that's the assumption we're making."

Oh man I was going to get the biggest ration of shit for this. Or at least, so I thought. Dad literally picked me up and swung me around when Piggot told him THAT piece of news.

"Oh my god you crazy crazy kid! I'd ground you forever for fighting him but then I'd have to let you go as reward for getting rid of him! Thank god, we don't have to deal with that bastard anymore..."

I kept waiting for Piggot to break it to dad I was also the owner of the ship still currently off the coast, but apparently that was too secret for him to know.

Speaking of which, I took the moment while dad and Piggot were busy doing forms to contact Penny.

"_Pennsylvania, you there?"_

"_I am always 'here'. Even in lockdown I am capable of communications. What is it, Taylor Hebert?"_

"_Just making sure everything is OK. No one's tried anything have they?"_

"_No. The number of helicopters surrounding me has increased by two, but no attempts to board me have yet occurred. How are you doing, Taylor Hebert? Have negotiations been successful?"_

"_Sort of. I'm going to be a part of the hero organization that you were afraid of. But Don't worry! They're not going to do anything with you. They think I built you, so they're letting me 'keep' you."_

"_How odd. Still, I am quite pleased to know I will not be dismantled or otherwise bothered. Do you have any orders at this time?"_

"_No, just sit tight and keep your lockdown on until I hear what they want me to do. I'll keep you updated."_

"_I appreciate it. I will maintain my current status."_

"-do? Kiddo? You alright there hun?"

Oh. Dad was talking to me.

"Huh, sorry dad? Just sorta tired..." I punctuated this with a yawn that was only partially forced. I may not need sleep any more but sitting around in a chair for hours isn't the greatest sensation.

Piggot looked at me with what probably passed for concern.

"Hmm, it has been a long night." She looked at the clock. "By my estimates we've been doing this for 3 hours. You've probably been awake for far longer."

She turned to one of the mooks in the room.

"Herder! Take miss Hebert to one of the guest rooms in the wards section."

The mook saluted and turned to me.

"Alright lass, let's get you some shuteye."

After getting a nod from dad that he was OK with things, I turned and followed the man out of the room.

Herder turned out to be a bit of a chatterbox, and I was content to simply listen as he rambled.

"So Piggy -that's the nickname for the director around here but don't let her catch you saying it- seems to think you're like the second coming of scion at this point. What's your deal lass?"

Oh, he was speaking to me this time.

"Well..."

"Ah, don't worry," he interrupted me right as I began to speak, "I've not got the clearance for anything big, so if it's hush hush just say so."

"Unfortunately, it is. I'm sorry."

"No problem! Ah, here we are. Guest room 110, Wards section. Gimme a minute..."

He leaned forward and stared at a small orb near the door.

"Engaging retinal scanner...Identity Confirmed, Cruz Herder. Opening door."

Huh, a retinal scanner for a guest room? Well, I guess capes are pretty paranoid and with good reason.

He turned back to me.

"There you go lass! Your own private sanctuary! For the night anyway. If you need anything, press the black button near the inside door, it's an intercom and one of the soldiers will come see whatcha need. If something REALLY bad happens, hit the big red one and the panic function will activate. That'll set an alarm throughout the building AND lock down your doors and windows with tinker-tech stuff. Sleep tight!"

With that, he loped off back the way we'd come. I entered the room, and took in the fairly sparse interior. A bed, with a table and lamp besides it. Some windows out to the bay. In all, something you'd expect from a cheap hotel.

Lying down on the bed, I willed myself to relax and enter a sleepy state. Even without needing it, Penny had been right. Sleep is wonderful and I wasn't going to miss out on some if I could get it.

Within minutes I was dozing away.

* * *

Right, AN/edit bit time. First off, a thank you to that guest reviewer who mentioned that depth charges would be more appropriate against a submerged vessel then demo charges. As for anyone who's wondering why Taylor got 'shanghaied' so easily, well, its because she's still a good person. sure, she COULD have blown the PRT sky high and done a runner, but she's not likely too. She's not suddenly an evil bitch, this taylor's just a bit mentally tougher and more thoughtful then the one in canon worm. where is she going to go anyways? Spend the rest of her life deep underwater and cut off contact? She's in possession of a fuck huge battleship who she isnt just going to abandon, and she can't really blend in with the crowd since the PRT has her face on camera.

This isnt a rant, i'm glad folks are asking questions. I just wanted to give an answer and I can't do a PM since the reviewer was anonymous.

Also thank you to everyone pointing out details like "The PRT and Protectorate are different" and spelling issues and such. You're all lifesavers.

Lsstly, I should make this clear, since a few folks have expressed confusion. Taylor is going to have two cape names. The first is her own creation, Dreadnought. This will be her name when talking about her role in the protectorate proper, utilizing Penny's weaponry. The other cape name I haven't decided on, but it's going to be her name in the wards, using only the abilities granted to a mental model. Dreadnought is NOT the codename for Penny herself. As far as the PRT or anyone save for Penny and Taylor knows, Penny is simply an incredibly advanced tinker invention that Taylor got a hold of somehow.

2nd edit (3/31/14): Finally went back and added some stuff to (hopefully) lessen the "WTF why did she just agree to Piggot's demands so suddenly." To those who've mentioned abandoning the story, I'm sad to see you go and hope you'll give it a chance again down the line sometime


	5. Interlude 1: Tattletale

Right, there was a call for an interlude and guess what? That's what I was planning as well! Lucky you, readers!

Don't own Worm (John McCrae), Don't own Arpeggio (Ark performance)

* * *

Lisa Wilbourn, Tattletale to her friends, was nervous. Scared, even. This wasn't a state of being she was normally in, and she found she really didn't like it.

She had every right to be scared, she rationalized to herself. They'd barely gotten out with their lives, Lung really hadn't taken any chances tonight. 140 people including Lung himself were odds the Protectorate would have taken a small step back at, much less a 'gang' of four teenage villains whose sole claim to fame was their uncanny knack for _getting away easily._

So yes, there were good reasons to be scared. Perfectly valid fight or flight response to a near death experience.

She really needed to stop lying to herself, she decided.

What had her scared wasn't the brush with death, or the fact that their little slice of pie was effectively gone, lost to the E88 or the Merchants or whoever decided to fill the now very large gap created by the defeat (and possible death) of Lung.

What had her scared was the girl. The girl who had appeared as if from nowhere and had utterly destroyed lung. Tattletale had finally caught site of her after the Undersiders had managed to free themselves from the ruins of their warehouse base.

What she had 'seen', or rather 'deduced' was limited to 'Not human.' This scared her for two reasons.

Firstly, 'not human' meant all sorts of bad things. Things like Endbringers, or the more monstrous of the S9. 'Not human' was not a designation she wanted to tangle with at all.

The second, rather more pressing fear was that her power hadn't worked. It had literally popped into her head 'not human' and refused to do anything other than that. Nothing had ever simply stopped her power cold like that before, not even Behemoth, back when she'd caught a glimpse of it on the TV back in her days as...

She stopped herself from furthering that line of thought. That girl was dead, and Lisa Wilbourn had taken her place. She had a family now, one that really cared about her.

Her ruminations were broken off as a powerfully built African-american boy, body sleek with sweat from his latest workout, entered her loft.

"Hello Grue, come to pick the mind of your Ops?" She said.

"It's Brian here, Lisa, I've told you. And if it isn't too much trouble, I'd appreciate the intel."

She smiled softly and hopped down from her perch on the railing.

"Sure thing Brian, what do you want to know? I'm guessing you'll be wanting the predictions for the ABB now that...well, now that leadership's changed hands."

He nodded and gestured for her to continue

"Well," she began, all business, "Oni Lee will at first want to try to continue the expansion. He'll probably utilize the line of reasoning that Lung is simply wounded, not dead. The threat of Lung will serve to motivate the ABB itself, but it won't keep the E88 from making a move. I'd say...a week until at least half the docks are E88."

He nodded again.

"I figured that much. How about longer term."

She pondered for a moment, looking back at her crisscross of news clippings, photos, tack cards and string.

"After repeated failures to even hold onto the newest turf, Oni will switch tactics. He'll start consolidating the home turf of the ABB, probably start making contingencies for his own safety and position once it becomes clear that Lung isn't coming back anytime soon, if at all. That means he'll give up the docks for sure and probably everything the ABB currently controls north of Crater lake. In return, he'll fortify his hold on Shantytown."

"Right. What's E88's move?"

"After taking the docks, they'll settle for a cold war for a time, bundling their forces and their hold on their new turf. Cleaning out small timers like us, I'd imagine."

She paused to let a small smirk cross her face.

"Not that we'll be here still, but you get the drift."

He nodded impatiently.

"After that?"

"Not enough data, sorry. Kaiser's a cautious guy, he doesn't like to spread too fast too soon."

Brian grunted.

"Hmm. What about the Merchants?"

"Well, they'll probably bribe or strike a deal with the E88 to let them keep their hideouts that were in ABB territory. There's a strong chance they'll try to claim a part of the docks for their own, most likely the boardwalk."

"What are the odds of Kaiser letting them do that?"

"Very high, assuming they're willing to give him a cut. Small one of course, 10% only. He won't want a war on two fronts even with one front being weakened."

"Right, sounds like we might be able to wrangle a space in the new order. Now, what can you tell me about our newest friend?"

The smile slid off her face.

"I'm really sorry Brian, I can't tell you anything beyond the fact she isn't human."

"Nothing? Isn't that your entire schtick, knowing stuff?"

"It is," She snapped, "But it wouldn't work on her. That scares me a lot more than it does you right now, ok? All I know is she isn't human, and she can teleport. You saw that bit for yourself. Look Brian, 'not human' is something I've only ever seen gotten off a read once before. You know what that was? Behemoth. So take from that what you will."

He'd taken a step back at her virulence.

"Ok, ok, calm down. I'm not blaming you. Just not used to our ace in the hole not working out. It's ok Lisa, we'll find a way to deal with her later. Don't blame yourself or anything."

"I'm not. I'm just...I don't like it. My power ALWAYS works, on anything. It's..."

'Scary, right? Not knowing for once. It's scary enough for us normal folks who DON'T have the leisure of being an instant expert on folks."

She nodded, unsure of her own response.

'..Yeah. It's scary. I'm trying to take my mind off of it. Here, give me a few hours, I'll see what I can get for you in terms of E88's long term plans now."

He ruffled her hair as he passed by towards the stairs.

"Thatta girl. You just keep on being our ace, alright? Don't sweat the stuff you can't help."

She found herself smiling as he walked down, presumably to continue his work out. She heard Bitch calling for her dog's feeding time, and the faint snore of Regent, passed out in front of the TV.

This was her crew, and she'd keep on keeping them safe, come what may.

_'Now, if Bakuda decides to strike out on her own, Oni Lee will...'_

* * *

Now, a (not really) brief response to a question that a reviewer had, as well as providing some additional info here on the story.

**"Why hasn't Taylor displayed her trademark analysis and in depth examination of her powers?"**

Answer: She really hasn't had them all that long. Here's a timeline of the story so far.

11AM: Taylor goes overboard, gets picked up by Penny. 6 hours pass while taylor is unconscious and recuperating

5PM: Taylor wakes up, has her convo with penny, agrees to undergo the merging procedure. 3 hours pass as the procedure occurs.

8PM: Taylor wakes up, starts her swim up. Roughly an hour passes as noted in chapter 3. **This is when she starts 'having her powers'**

9PM: Taylor breaks the surface, and begins swimming the 10 miles. Even at the rate of an olympic swimmer (the rate she chose to augment herself to), this takes 2 hours.

11PM: Taylor makes landfall, begins moving through the docks to get home. 40 minutes pass

11:40PM: Taylor hears Lung's Undersider Removal Plan, intervenes. Around 20 minutes pass from first contact to her 'teleporting' back to Penny. **This marks the first time Taylor uses her powers. Even then, she's doing so under the (minor but present) influence of the combat protocols.**

12AM: Taylor gets back to Penny, begins talks. 15 minutes later, she decides to go along to PRT HQ. Another 15 minutes pass on the heli ride there.

12:30AM: Taylor arrives at PRT HQ, meets with Piggot. 15 minutes after meeting her, she's agreed (rather, was cowed into agreeing) to Piggot's terms, and she begins doing paperwork. Sometime during that, her dad arrives to help her and have the heart to heart. As noted in chapter 4, Piggot mentions 3 hours have passed.

3:30AM: Taylor semi-fakes tiredness, gets escorted to her guest quarters, goes to sleep.

Thus, Taylor has had a mere 7 and a half hours 'powered up', 3 of which were spent doing paperwork (hardly the best time for in depth experimentation) and another 3 hours of which were spent swimming (again, not that great a time to stop and think "how do I shot railguns").

Don't worry, we'll be seeing plenty of experimenting, both privately AND onsite with the wards (and out with the Protectorate, testing Penny's guns)

Oh, and to further answer why Taylor 'folded' so easily. She was scared. Outside of the combat mode, she's still the teenage girl she was at the start. A bit tougher from the bullying, but not much. Piggot's got decades of dealing with new capes and manipulating people.

Hope you all enjoyed my interpretation of the undersiders! I tried to go for a bit of a nicer, familial look. Overall, that's my view on the world of Worm in alrge part. I want a bit of a nicer side to some of the various factions we see, the undersiders, the wards, etc.. Not that everything will be hugs and bunnies. There'll be plenty of nastiness to taste the business end of those 14 inch guns, I assure you, and several factions will have their nastiness played up.


	6. 1-4: Inte(rro)g(r)ation (Part 1)

Wahey, it's me! Fresh from the lab, a brand new chapter of Arpeggio of Brockton Bay! Sorry for the delay, I wanted to really flesh out this chapter. Even then, I had to cut it in half. I had intended for this chapter to ecompass both the testing AND the meeting with the wards, but the testing section ran away from me. I had a lot of fun writing Penny's test though. Anyways, next chapter will see the wards meeting, for sure.

Don't own Worm (John McCrae), don't own Arpeggio (Ark performance)

* * *

"_You may wish to wake up, Taylor Hebert."_

I jolted up. What? Where?

Oh, right. The events of last night streamed into my head as I got up and began dressing myself. Thrown overboard. Met Penny. Got powers. Fought Lung. Been drafted into the wards. Slept in a guest room at PRT HQ.

Oh god, I'd fought Lung. I'd killed him, or at least everyone was acting like I had. I was a murderer. Why wasn't I freaking out? Was it because I wasn't entirely human? Had my morals been altered somehow? Had that been one of the 'few modifications' Penny had mentioned?

A knock on my door interrupted my rising agitation. I quickly finished getting dressed and opened the door. A young man, dressed in the armor of the PRT, stood before me.

"Uh, ma'am? I've been sent to notify you you're wanted in the testing labs for power registration."

There was no use having a moral crisis at this time, I decided. Existential debates could wait until _after _I'd been inducted fully into the wards.

"Oh, sure. Can you take me there? I have no idea where to go unfortunately."

"Certainly miss, that's part of why they sent me."

Oh. Duh, of course they'd have someone escort me.

As I followed the grunt through the various halls and elevators that comprised the PRT HQ, I took the moment to coordinate with Penny.

_"How's the situation out there Pennsylvania? Anything major happen?"_

"_Negative. I would have informed you if anything truly troubling had occurred. Mostly, the helicopters surrounding me have flown off. Several speedboats and floatcraft have replaced them though. I have detected several small scale scans of my hull at various points throughout the night. As this was not deemed a large enough disturbance to alert you, I allowed it. Any scans will simply register my hull as steel anyways."_

"_Right, well done. I suspect they'll be putting us through the paces today. Ready to show off a bit?"_

"_The thought does certainly fill me with a sense of anticipation, yes."_

Right, that translated as 'yes I'm very excited'. Nice to know Penny seemed to be looking forward to it. I certainly was, I hadn't been able to see Penny's true capabilities either and from what she'd hinted she certainly had power in spades.

"Right, here we are, the Gym. Doubles as testing station. In you go miss."

Ah, we'd arrived. I nodded to the man in thanks as I entered.

Interestingly enough, Piggot was there. I suspected she wasn't normally present for what had to be standard testing. Looks like I'd caught her eye. Lucky me. Next to her was a teenager garbed in what looked like rusty silver armor, emblazoned with a shield. This was Aegis, I knew, one of the local wards. Internet sources made him out to be a mini male Alexandria, with a highly resilient body and able to keep fighting indefinitely. On Piggot's other side stood a reedy looking Japanese man in a lab coat and wearing glasses.

"Hello, Taylor. Sleep well?" Piggot asked.

"Very, thank you for the room." I responded. A thought occurred.

"Where's dad? Did he leave during the night?"

"That's correct. Once he'd finished the paperwork, we had him go home for the night. Don't worry, you'll still be allowed to see him quite often. We just have to moderate it so folks don't work out your civilian identity. Speaking of identities, we'll need to get you a cape name. Testing first though, I've been told it makes it easier to choose a name once you get the extent of your powers mapped out."

I nodded. Made sense.

"Right," she continued, "This here is Aegis, though you probably already knew that. He'll be here in his capacity of team lead, to analyze your powers and how to best utilize them."

"I'm also here to help you through the process if you have any questions about the wards." Aegis added, earning a slight glare from Piggot for the interruption.

"Yes, indeed. Continuing on, this is Dr. Osakabe. He's in charge of the testing labs, so he'll be the one putting you through your paces. I'm afraid I wont be staying to watch, as I need to start dealing with the military for when Dreadnought," she gave me a significant look, "begins her testing."

With that, she abruptly walked out of the gym.

The doctor smiled at me and did a small wave.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance Taylor. If you'll just follow me, we'll begin the testing."

He turned and began walking towards a a room offset from the rest of the gym. Aegis and I followed.

Inside were various strange and scientific looking instruments, most of which looked like they belonged in a sci-fi horror movie.

"Right! We'll begin with the basics. Any description you can give ahead of time helps narrow down what powers we need to test and thus makes the whole process faster." The doctor cheerfully announced, looking at me expectantly.

"Um, right. Well, I can augment my body's capabilities to an extent. I can deploy a force field and...manipulate gravity?"

"_Technically incorrect. The graviton manipulation process causes an area of space to become saturated with gravitons, increasing the local space time density by a large factor. Furthermore, gravitons may be moved about freely, mimicking a vague form of telekinesis" _Penny piped up helpfully.

Dr. Osakabe must have picked up on that last hesitation, and possibly my brief blank look.

"Can you make yourself and others light or heavier, or is it more of a spacial distortion?"

"More the latter. I can make an area really dense and then move the dense area around. I might be easier to show you."

"Yes yes, certainly. We'll examine the process when we get to the Shaker test. Let's begin with the Brute testing though, as you mentioned physical augmentation. Now, I'll ask you to activate your powers and set them to the highest setting you can."

_Combat mode activating._

I felt the same sense of power, along with the familiar sense of _something_ in the back of my mind appear.

_Augmenting nanomaterials. Rearranging molecular structure. Diverting power to extremities._

"Right, I've 'powered up', and I've got it set to high." I announced, as during the process the doctor had begun setting up what appeared to be some sort of vice clamp lined with small needles.

"Ah, very good! Now, the Brute test is composed of two parts. The first tests your defensive ability, by testing how much pressure you can withstand along with testing what it takes to pierce your skin. IF you'd be so kind as to place your arm inside the machine, we'll get started."

I did so, and felt the machine begin to tighten around my arm almost immediately. After only 20 seconds I felt a crushing sensation and made it known I was in quite a bit of pain.

"Right," said the doctor as he turned the machine off. "Looks like you're more resilient then the average joe, maybe a bit hardier then a trained soldier. I suppose your abilities here must lie in the offensive section, which we'll move to now."

He walked and motioned me over to a series of weights and pillars out in the gym proper.

"Now, these pillars are made of various increasingly tough materials. We've iron, steel, tungsten and diamond." He pointed to each in turn. "The weights speak for themselves, though you'll find they go rather beyond the average maximum. The pillars are made for you to attack. Just hit them or use whatever physical moves you want, they'll record how much force you're hitting with. Don't worry about breaking them either, that's what they're there for. Try the pillars first, then the weights."

OK, here goes nothing. I made a slashing motion against the iron pillar.

My hand went through it like butter.

What the fuck? I know I'd set the nanomaterial to go all out but holy shit, to just carve through iron like that?

"Well, what a promising start that is! Like I said, don't worry about breaking them." Dr. Osakabe encouraged me, his grin now even wider.

"Seriously, it's ok," Aegis piped up, "and don't mind him, he just likes seeing how far capes can push themselves. Gotta say though that's one hell of an opening show."

"Very well. I shall continue testing." I responded. Crap, the speech change again. Hopefully as time went by my own mannerism would leak in. I'd hate to sound like, well, a robot every time I spoke during fights.

Moving on to the steel pillar, I cut through that too, though I definitely felt quite a bit of resistance. The tungsten pillar I dented, and the diamond one I saw no visible effect on.

After the pillars, I moved to the weights. This involved lifting each one from a cold start and not stopping till I found one I couldn't lift. Eventfully, I found that limit, at 500 tons.

"Right, looks like Brute 4. The weight and pillars were offset by the lack of almost any defensive capabilities, or you'd have been a 5." Dr. Osakabe said, as we began walking over to another portion of the gym, this one defined by several holes in the wall as well as various dummies strewn about. "Time for Shaker testing, part one. You mentioned a forcefield of some sort?"

"Yes. I am capable of covering myself with a defensive screen."

"Right. So, those holes you see? Various people and machines behind them will be shooting at you. You just sit there and keep your shield up for as long as you can, and be sure to tell us the second you start to feel it weaken.

"Affirmative."

With that, he and Aegis moved to the side, and Osakabe began hitting buttons on a panel near the holes.

I activated the shield directly in front of me, the blazing crimson hexagons folding out at a distance of 5 inches. If this broke without warning, I was pretty fucked.

"Test 1, 9mm!"

Several shots rang out. I saw the bullets appear in front of me and drop to the ground.

_Personal Wave Force Armor holding at 99%. Activating regeneration at 4% per minute._

"Test 2! 5.56mm!"

A string of bullets, perhaps 100 or so in all, impacted and dropped. _PWFA at 98%._

"Test 3! 7.62mm!"

More bullets, quite a bit more this time. _PWFA at 94%._

"Test 4! 12.7mm/.50cal NATO!" 3 loud cracks, 3 bullets. These ones looked bigger. _PWFA at 90%._

"Ordinance test! 20mm then 40mm!" 5 hand sized bullets appeared, all centered near my head. These were followed by a series of explosions, the heat of which blasted over my body. _PWFA at 75%_

Aegis called out to me.

"Feeling any weakening? Don't be afraid to stop the test if you are, there's no shame in having an endpoint."

His concern was touching, but really unneeded. The shield seemed impervious to all but repeated explosions.

"Negative. I can still continue, the shield is holding strong."

"Right, well you might want to make it bigger for this next one. Like, as big as you can."

Heeding his advice (for surely he knew what was to come better then I did) I extended the shield from a rounded plane to a dome surrounding my entire body.

"Final test, heavy ordinance! 120mm HEAT shell!"

With that, a massive explosion rocked the front of the shield. I was glad I'd listened to Aegis' advice, though I would have been ultimately unharmed due to regeneration, I was glad I wasn't forced to show it off first hand. _PWFA at 40%. Advise cessation of hostilities soon._

"I have reached a limit I am not comfortable going beyond." I stated as the dust settled.

"Good thing too, or we'd have had to bring in a Blaster to start shooting at you. How close was the shield to breaking after all that?" Osakabe said as he walked over to where I was standing.

"It had declined to 40% strength."

He nodded.

"Shaker 5 then. You'll be fine against anything normies can possibly throw at you. Capes might give you some issue though."

Ah, I had forgot to bring up the regeneration during brute testing. I should rectify that.

"During the Brute testing, I neglected to inform you of a further power I hold."

"Oh?"

"I am capable of regeneration from effectively any wound. During my battle with lung, I lost the top 54% of my body. Within 20 seconds I had regenerated fully. Armsmaster will confirm this if evidence is required."

Osakabe's eyebrows rose.

"Sounds like that Brute 4 needs to be a Brute 8. I've also noticed you're speaking rather stiffly. That a side effect of your power? Anything else mental going on there?"

"Yes, this is an effect of the mental change my power gives me. During active combat, I gain enhanced tracking ability against my current opponent. I am also granted increased battlefield awareness."

He nodded once more.

"Right, so Brute 8, Shaker 5 for the moment, and we can add Thinker...2 to that. Quite a list you're racking up girl. Now, you said you had the density manipulation thing? Right, lets go do some more Shaker testing."

I obediently followed him over to the largest section of the gym. More dummies layered the area.

"Right, simple and to the point here. Use your power on the dummies. There's two tests. Maximum intensity and maximum range. In short, make your power as strong and intense as you can, then try to use it from as far away as you can.

I raised my hand at one of the dummies and clenched. The dummy's head imploded.

"Can you go any stronger?" Osakabe asked.

I focused my hand at an empty area of space, and focused on gathering as much power as I could into the area.

A whump of air followed, as a visible roiling mass of distorted space appeared.

Osakabe nodded to Aegis, who tossed the headless dummy in the general area of the mass, and as it passed about 10 feet from the edge of the visible distortion it veered inwards into the center of the mass, where it instantly imploded entirely.

"Right, that's intensity done. Time for range."

"Visual." I stated.

"What?"

"Visual range. Anything within visual range and an unbroken line to my hand."

"Ah, I see. Well that's certainly terrifying. Shaker 7, then, for the forcefield combined with the pure intensity of the gravity manipulation even if the attack's area of effect itself is limited, with Blaster 1 for the range of use."

Aegis walked over and shook his head.

"So Brute 8, Shaker 7, Blaster 1, and Thinker 2. Congrats, you're the most varied member of the wards, and most likely our new heavy hitter." He extended his hand out.

I deactivated combat mode as I shook his hand.

"Thanks, I guess. So where do I go now? Will I be meeting my new bestest of friends?"

"Sadly, not yet. While you were busy with the Shaker test, I got a call from Piggot. Apparently 'Dreadnought' is required to give a demonstration of her ship's capabilities to the PRT and Protectorate brass as well as the US navy. You'll be meeting the wards after that."

Right, Penny's time to shine had arrived.

"I suppose I should get going then." I said, as I began the teleportation back to Penny.

"That's correct, we've got a helicop- Oh, ok. I guess that works too." Aegis said, as he stared at what remained of my body. "See you around. Don't forget to think of a name!"

Oh yeah, had to do that too. Crap.

* * *

I reappeared, this time inside Penny's bridge. From here, I could see a smaller warship in front of Penny, and several helicopters and civilian craft surrounding her.

"_Hello Taylor Hebert. Is it time for our testing to begin?"_

"_Yes. Let's get this show going."_

"_Affirmative. Ending lockdown."_

As the hum and crackle of Penny powering up began, I strode out from the bridge and onto the bow. I could see several smaller craft making their way towards me now that the crimson aura had dissipated. I recognized Piggot aboard one of them.

"Greetings, Director Piggot. I assume this mess is my trial then?" I waved about at the destroyer and various ships.

"Yes, it is. That's the USS _Farragut_ over there, here from Norfolk to observe and report their findings. With me are the Brockton bay Protectorate, your new teammates. You've met Armsmaster and Triumph already. The others are Miss Militia, Battery, and Assault. She pointed to an olive skinned woman wearing an American flag outfit, a woman wearing some sort of form fitting catsuit, and a man with a visor over his helmet wearing armor, in turn. "Everyone, meet your newest teammate Dreadnought. The name should be obvious."

"A pleasure, Dreadnought. May we come aboard?" Miss Militia asked.

"Certainly. Make yourselves comfy here on the deck. I'll be in the bridge preparing weapons systems. I assume you have some sort of target for me?"

"Yes we do," Piggot responded, "See those ships out in the distance?"

I looked out. I could see at varying distances what looked like varying sizes of ships.

"Yes, I see them. They're my targets? The navy is fine with me blowing up ships? How on earth did they get them out there so fast anyways? That seems outright impossible."

"They're all due for scrapping anyways. At least this way they serve some sort of use. As for getting them out here, we had to contact several high level Movers in order to do so.. While you were sleeping, we've been very busy bees. A hell of a lot of work, manpower, and even one or two favors owed the PRT could have otherwise used has gone into this test, so _please_ don't mess this up. Start whenever you're ready."

I gulped. Right, no pressure.

"_Curious. I recognize several of those ships, but they are not of the Fleet of Fog." _Penny spoke again, suddenly.

"_What? Really?"_

"_Yes. There is FDD-441 Wilkes, and FDD-435 Grayson. Further out is FCA-69 Boston. Farthest out, on the horizon, is FCVE-16 Nassau. I have tried hailing them each several times over the JTN, but I have received no response."_

"_Well, all those are old ships from our navy. Maybe you're just designed to look like them? I can promise you none of them have any guns like yours."_

"_Perhaps. None of the Fog knows where we came from. I would most appreciate it if we investigate this at some time."_

_"Sure, no problem. For now, though, will there be an issue? We're going to have to sink them."_

_"They are not Fog. I have no qualms about doing what I was designed to do."_

"_Just making sure you were ok with it. Let's get going then. Time to be the badass inventor."_

"_Affirmative."_

I made my way back up to the bridge, and linked my voice to Penny's speakers. I modulated the pitch down, to account for Dreadnought supposedly being a grown woman. Taking a deep breath and psyching myself up for the role, I began.

"If I may have your attention please. Repeat, may I have your attention please."

The noise of boat engines calmed down as my voice carried over the assembled vessels.

"Hello, and welcome to Brockton Bay, for those of you not from around here. My name is Dreadnought, and this here is my ship. I'm told you're all here to find out what she can do. If you'll bring your attention to the destroyers off starboard please.

"_Six 5 inch guns and two corrosive missiles on Wilkes, the remaining eight 5 inchers on Grayson. Hit Grayson's ammo storage with at least one gun."_

"_Affirmative."_

The smaller turrets began rotation, humming and glowing as they did so.

"_Ready to fire on your orders."_

"_Fire!"_

The fourteen resounding thunderclaps drowned out the roar of the two missiles as they launched out the rear launch ports.

_Wilkes_ took her hits poorly, portions of her deck blasting out and her hull side melting under the heat and impact, with the two missiles hitting the bridge tower and aft section. The resulting screeching warping domes tore a massive chunk from her aft, with the tower almost completely gone.

_Grayson_'s demise was even more spectacular, as the first six shots had been largely a repeat of _Wilkes._ The final two rounds, however, had shredded the ammo storage compartments sending a billowing cloud of smoke and fire up to the sky. The two destroyers lost their battle to stay afloat within minutes.

"As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, the power of even the secondary cannons is nothing to sneeze at. The addition of the missile ports adds a tactical option for indirect fire, and serves as an excellent augmentation to the direct fire capabilities of the railguns."

"_Foremost upper main turret to Boston. Angle the shots to hit the tower and right below the waves.__"_

"_Affirmative."_

"Now, a taste of the main guns. If you'd turn your binoculars and telescopes to the cruiser at mid range.

"_Aimed and ready to fire."_

"_Fire!"_

The roars of the 14-inchers was deafening even to me inside the bridge. I could only imagine what it had sounded like to the observers.

The rounds instantly slammed into _Boston, _disintegrating her tower and midsection in a spectacular triple explosion, almost completely severing her aft from her fore. Only a thin twisted remnant of her mid lower hull remained, and it soon stress-sheared in half, dooming the twin halves to a watery grave.

The silence in the aftermath was telling.

I allowed myself a smirk. Time to REALLY show off.

"_All 14 inch guns to starboard. Align at equidistant points along Nassau. Prepare for broadside."_

"_Affirmative. Reinforcing port hull. Enabling inertial dampeners. Calibrating fire points. Calculating for earth curvature."_

"Now, for my final act, I shall show the real power of my creation. Please turn your eyes and devices to the carrier, currently moored at extreme range on the horizon. You may wish to plug your ears for this one."

"_Ready to fire."_

"_Broadside, fire!"_

The utter level of noise from the simultaneous firing of twelve 14 inch cannons dwarfed anything I had ever heard before in my life. The ocean crackled and sizzled underneath the visible trail the rounds had torn through the air, plasma sparking in their wake. Penny had rocked to her side, and I was glad she had had the foresight to enable those inertial dampeners or we'd nearly have capsized from the recoil of it.

_Nassau _literally vaporized, the sheer kinetic energy of the 14 inch tungsten rounds blowing gaping wounds along her side, ripping apart her hull and detonating fuel compartments and ammo storage bays. What little smoking remnants remained quickly submerged beneath the waves, the water where _Nassau_ had once floated frothing and churning from the suddenness of the violence done.

"Now, are you all satisfied as to my ability to battle whatever threats may come?"

* * *

Whoo! One thousand unique views! 42 Favorites! 42 Alerts! I love you all!

EDIT: changed her rankings (AGAIN) after further investigation into how worm's power rankings worked. Added some stuff to (hopefully) explain how the navy got 4 (sacrificial) ships out there so fast, and why they were willing to have those ships blown up. I really should have put this in at the start. ALSO got rid of the 'oh the chief of the navy' is here, because yeah that's bullshit. replaced him with the captain of the _Farragut_. Thanks to the reviewer who brought it up. As for your thing about taylor just accepting the PRT's manhandling...All I can really point to is the previous stuff I've said, and add "My taylor is not the same as canon taylor."

Final (for now) list of power rating. Brute 8 (perfect regen but not a lot of offensive oomph), Shaker 7 (forcefield and grav manipulation), Thinker 2 (the combat mode's tactical augmentation) and Blaster 1 (the range of the grav manip is simply 'visual')


	7. 1-5: Inte(rro)g(r)ation (Part 2)

WHOA MAN. I'm so so sorry for the delay. I hit a complete wall and this chapter did NOT want to be written. But, I powered through, and here it is! Wards meeting! Including a _very special_ meeting I'm sure you've all been looking forward too!

A huge thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, and put this story on alerts! I owe all my drive to you folks!

Don't own Worm (John McCrae), don't own Arpeggio (Ark performance)

* * *

After my demonstration, I was informed the _Farragut_'s captain wanted to come aboard and speak to me briefly. The majority of the ships gathered were beginning to disperse, the press presumably hurrying back to start up their articles on the newest protectorate cape. Piggot and the rest stayed aboard Penny, ostensibly as a show of support.

When the _Farragut_'s captain did finally come aboard, I was briefly taken aback. He seemed young for someone in charge of a destroyer. Then again, I was in charge of an entire battleship, so perhaps it was a tad unfair to look down on him.

"Ah, Dreadnought. It's a pleasure to meet..." He trailed off, as he took in the sight of a gangly teenage girl in completely civilian gear. I was obviously not what he was expecting.

"Er, This isn't a joke is it?" He asked.

"No, it is not. This is indeed Dreadnought. I understand it's unusual for a cape so young to be in the Protectorate, let alone in command of such firepower, but that's the situation we were given. Naturally, secrecy applies here." Piggot responded.

"Of course, of course. Well Dreadnought, I can certainly say my report to naval command will be glowingly positive in its tone. You've swung me quite firmly into your camp." He paused, then grinned at my confused expression. "Right, right, you have no clue what I'm saying do you? Well, when the navy heard about your ship here and the fact the PRT was planning on using her, command split along 3 roughly equal camps. The first wanted to remain completely out of the affair, just as the military has been so far. The second wanted to commandeer you and your vessel into the Navy's service, never mind the ghastly precedent that would set in having a cape answer to a nation's military. The last faction wanted to throw the navy's support entirely behind you, betting on the fact that any tinker vessel would be years ahead of us anyways and that the navy should at least _try_ to be relevant again. Needless to say, my report will likely bolster that particular faction's standing quite a bit."

I was speechless. The US Navy wanted to support me?

"_That would be quite useful. I will require a source of nanomaterial at some point, and this human navy may well be able to provide a base of operations for us."_ Penny interjected.

"_Wait, don't you like, make nanomaterial anyways?"_

"_Yes, I am capable of siphoning seawater and converting it to nanomaterial to replenish our ammo supplies and any regeneration needed for your own use. Large scale repairs, the sort we will possibly and likely need if we will be engaging these 'endbringers' would require an actual dock however."_

"_I see."_

The captain must have noticed my slightly blank look.

"Don't worry about it too much, it's all politics anyways. I shouldn't have even brought it up."

He took a step towards me, hand outstretched.

"Name's Jacob McKinnon, ma'am. Pleasure to have met you."

I shook his hand, and he stepped back.

"Right, now I've got to sail back to Norfolk to make my report. Hopefully I'll see you again. Till next time!"

With that, he walked out of the bridge.

I turned to the rest of the team, who had kept silent throughout.

"Is it like that a lot? With the handshaking and small talk?"

Triumph let out a snort.

"Sometimes. There's always the meet and greets, and whenever we get VIPs in we have to schmooze a bit to keep the funding up. Lucky you, getting the excuse of 'I'm shy and want to stay on my ship', eh?"

I frowned Lucky me indeed. I didn't fancy having to deal with folks three times my age for the sake of PR.

Piggot looked at her watch and spoke up.

"Right, well that's that done with. We should get you back to HQ, you need to meet your actual teammates."

Right, the wards. My day-to-day superhero team.

"We've got a helicopter waiting out on the deck. Let's get going."

With that, she and the Protectorate capes headed out. I followed them, with a quick command to Penny to set the lockdown on again after we'd departed.

The ride back was short, Penny was only stationed 3 miles out from the HQ. As we landed and walked back inside, Piggot turned to me.

"Now, there's no worry this time about your lack of a mask or anything, given that here at HQ when off duty the wards are free to use their real names. Speaking of names, have you worked out your Wards moniker yet?"

"Yes, I have. Onslaught."

She grimaced.

"Not the friendliest of names. Any reason why?"

"Well, given my regeneration, I can just keep going and going. I'm an onslaught."

She muttered something about a Glenn and breakdowns before turning and resuming walking.

After _4 minutes 23 seconds_, we reached a set of double doors.

"Right, through here's the ward's 'rec room'. It also serves as a meeting point. I'll leave you to it then."

With that, she walked off.

Right. Go time.

I walked through the doors, and was surprised at how...normal the interior was. There were some pinball machines in the back, couches and beanbags laid out, a TV set in one of the walls, with some sort of documentary on. It looked like something out of a YMCA or something. On the couch sat a young preteen girl in green, next to a red haired boy in white with what looked like clocks all over his suit. Leaning over the couch's back towards the TV was a tall older teen in silver and another in red and gold. I saw Aegis walk out from an adjoining room carrying a bowl of popcorn, and he caught site of me.

"Oh hey! Welcome back!"

With that, the rest turned around to see who Aegis had spoken to. The girl was the first to react, bouncing up and skipping over.

"Hi! I'm Vista, but here I'm just Missy. Can I just say how great it is we actually have another girl on the team?"

"That's kinda rude to Shadow Stalker isn't it?" Silver spoke up as he walked over. "Gallant, or Dean off duty. It's a pleasure to...meet..." He trailed off, eyes widening as he looked at me. Oh god, I hadn't gotten anything on my shirt had I?

"Whatsa matter Gallant? Struck dumb by our newest member's beauty?" White spoke up, only to flush slightly upon realizing what he'd said. "Not that anyone wouldn't be! I mean, um...I should shut up now shouldn't I?"

"Nice going Clockblocker. Very smooth." Aegis cut in. He turned to me. 'Ignore him for the most part, he has a problem with his foot popping into his mouth a lot."

"Hey! I just thought it was weird Gallant went dumbo all of a sudden." Clockblocker turned back to me. "Anyways, I'm the amazing Clockblocker, as you've heard. Here at HQ I'm the only-slightly-less-awesome Dennis. Nice to meetcha!"

"Your humility knows no bounds Clockblocker. Give the girl some space or she'll have to leave because of your ego taking up all the room." Goldie took this chance to speak. "Kid Win, at your service. Just plain old Chris off duty though. He has a point though, Gallant. Any reason you're just starting at her like a fish?"

Gallant broke out of whatever reverie he'd been in, and blushed.

"Sorry about that, my power went sorta wonky there when I looked at you. Which is strange, you're not wearing any armor or anything that would normally block it..."

This was awkward. Was there some sort of power nullifier built into mental models?

"Er, sorry. I guess that was an additional power I didn't know I had during testing." I explained, rather lamely in my own opinion. Everyone here seemed to buy it though, nodding as if it all made sense.

"Guess you're a bit of a trump too. What a jackpot you got on the power lottery, eh?" Aegis said.

"Oh yeah, you're the new record setter aren't you?" Clockblocker piped up. "Brute, Shaker, Thinker, Blaster...and now Trump. Man, I sure wish I had your luck."

"Just because she has a lot of powers doesn't mean she's any 'luckier' then any of us. Or have you forgotten what triggering entails?" Vista said, frowning at Clockblocker.

"Of course not! Just saying, for all the bullshit we go through she sure got her money's worth!"

"Oh, right," Aegis spoke again, "have you come up with a cape name for yourself yet?"

"Ah, yes. I'm sorry, I was caught up in the moment. I'm Onslaught, nice to meet you all. I guess here you can call me-"

"Taylor fucking Hebert." A voice I knew all too well spoke up from behind me.

Oh what the fuck.

* * *

I whirled around to the doorway, where stood a girl dressed all in black, with a cloak covering her.

"Sophia Hess. _You're_ Shadow Stalker?"

She snorted. "Yeah. Jesus this is some shit. Get your ass drowned and now you're a fucking cape? Shit and I thought here we might get a _useful_ teammate."

"Hey! Shadow Stalker I do not know what your deal is with Taylor here but you are _out of line_!" Aegis barked, all traces of joviality gone from his face.

"Hey don't get mad at me! I didn't ask for some prissy weakling to be our new cape! Just telling you how it is, she ain't gonna be worth shit!"

Oh I was _seething_. Piggot had some fucking explaining to do. They _all_ did. I'd fucking _told them_ what had happened and Piggot hadn't thought to fucking _warn me_?

"Right, maybe we should all calm down and just explain ourselves here?" Kid Win asked.

"Sure. You wanna know what happened? Your _teammate _here pushed me over the edge of a boat during a field trip when she _knew_ I couldn't swim. That's my trigger event by the way, in case you didn't realize." I spoke, voice cold and measured.

All heads turned to Sophia. She took a step back, hands raised.

"What, you're just gonna believe her? You've known her for what, five minutes and you're all taking her side? She's lying, she always has and always will. She's just trying to wring some-"

Whatever Sophia was going to say, she didn't get the chance too. I'd rushed forwards, slamming her bodily into the opposite wall in my rush to get out. Fuck this. I was taking this to the fucking top. Piggot had better have some answers or I was out. I was _not_ taking this bullshit anymore.

A few moments of angrily stalking through empty corridors, I caught sight of some mook in PRT armor.

"You!" I barked.

He turned, confusion on his face.

"Yes, Can I he-"

"Where. Is Piggot's. Office." I ground out.

Shakily, he motioned towards a nearby elevator.

"T-top floor!"

Wordlessly, I brushed past him and into the elevator, jamming the button for the top floor.

After what seemed like ages _2 minutes 4 seconds_, the doors finally opened. I wasted no time, quickly walking down the hall until I found the office labeled _Director Piggot_. I slammed the door open.

Piggot was sat at her desk, phone in hand.

"Sorry, but I'll have to call you back." She clicked the phone down onto its receiver.

"Can I help you, Onslaught?" She asked, infuriatingly calm.

"Yes. You can tell me when you were going to inform me my _attempted MURDERER WAS ON MY TEAM!_" My voice had reached a crescendo, and I was outright screaming now. I didn't care. How fucking _dare_ they?!

Piggot sighed.

"I'd told them this would happen. Look, Taylor..."

"But nothing! She tried to _kill me_ and you thought it was a good idea to make me _work with her?!_"

"My superiors thought that you would be able to look past your past issues and realize the necessary truth. They also were of the opinion you were simply exaggerating out of stress and anger. I was of the opinion we needed Ms. Hess off the team as soon as you told me of what happened. Sadly, they disagreed, and here we are."

For a second, I couldn't speak. Words failed me in my disbelief. What the _fuck_ sort of bullshit was that? Finally, I managed to regain my capacity for speech.

"Enlighten me then, as to this truth. I'm dying to hear your reasoning."

"Simply put, they say need the numbers. The endbringers, the gang wars...Brockton Bay, and the world at large, is in desperate need of heroes. The vast majority of capes becomes villains. They out number us 3 to 1, more so in many places. We _need_ every last willing cape we can find. Personal issues simply cannot be allowed to come into play here."

That was all nice and dandy, but holy shit there had to be some sort of line somewhere, and as far as I was concerned it had been crossed by _miles_.

"Well, I am telling you right now. I am _not_ working with Sophia Hess."

"I'm afraid you have no option to-"

"Excuse me?! I have 'no option'?! Director, I don't know if you've forgotten but you were _there_ not two hours ago at my little unveiling. I have _plenty_ of 'option'."

Her face shifted into a frown.

"Care to explain that particular choice of logic?"

"Yeah. Here's what it boils down to, _director_," I snarled, "either you take Sophia off this team, and preferably off the streets and into jail where she belongs, or I am leaving. Immediately, and I am taking my vessel with me."

"_Pennsylvania! Lockdown canceled, power up all guns!"_

"_Affirmative!"_

Piggot was outright glaring at me now.

"Ms. Hebert, are you _threatening_ me?"

"No, I am _promising_ you, that if you do not take Sophia Hess off the wards, I. Am. Leaving."

She continued to glare at me for several moments.

"What if the PRT decides that you are too great an asset to be allowed to leave?"

"Then I will _make you_ let me leave."

"_All guns to my location! Load and ready!"_

"_Affirmative!"_

Several exceedingly tense seconds passed. I could see the gears shifting in Piggot's head. Her finger stabbed down onto a dial on her desk.

"Armsmaster. Bring me Shadow Stalker."

She looked up back at me.

"Well, have a seat. Let's get this dealt with then. You've just given me the out I need."

I allowed myself to relax, minutely.

"_Guns down. Keep the engines ready though."_

"_As your order. Are you alright Taylor Hebert? I detected several spikes in your brainwaves indicative of high stress."_

"_I'm..I'm fine. For now. There was a disagreement. I'm hoping it will work out in my favor."_

"_I see. I shall keep ready for departure, then, in case your negotiations go poorly."_

_12 minutes 2 seconds_ after Piggot contacted Armsmaster, the man himself walked into the room, along with Sophia. She looked quite a bit worse for wear,with her uniform scuffed and tattered in various places. The fact she was in some sort of tinker cuffs didn't escape me either. Nor did it escape Piggot.

"I see. You certainly aren't helping your case any here, Ms. Hess, and we haven't even begun the conversation."

"Fuck you piggy! We had a fucking deal and now you're throwing it away for this little sniveling shit?"

"This 'sniveling shit" as you so delicately put it recently displayed a combat utility leagues ahead of your own. In light of that fact, and due in no small part to your rather flagrant violation of your probation, it is my personal pleasure to inform you that you are off the wards, effective immediately. With that said and done, I'll remind you your protection from prosecution is no longer valid. Should Ms. Hebert here decide to press charges, you'd certainly be in a spot of trouble. It may be worth your while to attempt a degree of civility."

Sophia glared absolute murder at me, and made several struggling motions at the cuffs. They must have been power-resistant, since nothing happened. After a moment, she slumped forward in the chair Armsmaster had sat her in, a bitter smile on her face.

"I guess that's it then. You won, Taylor. You weren't the prey after all. Won't Emma be happy to hear it. Enjoy your victory, predator."

What the fuck was she on about? I really didn't want to sit here and pretend niceties with the girl who'd tried to murder me.

"Whatever." I turned to Piggot.

"We done? I should probably go explain to my new team what the fuck just happened."

She nodded tersely.

"Yes, that may be a good idea. I'll stay here and process Ms. Hess' departure."

As I made to leave, Piggot held up a hand.

"Ms. Hebert?"

I turned back.

"Yeah?"

"The next time you threaten me like that, ship or no ship I will not make it pleasant for you. I understand your anger and I am on your side here, but I will _not_ tolerate threats like that."

I smiled grimly.

"Then don't give me a reason too and we won't have to deal with the outcome, will we?"

She returned my smile.

"So it seems. Good day, Ms. Hebert. Try not to damage the base any further else will you?"

With that, she turned back to the desk and reached for a piece of paper. Armsmaster stayed where he was, and Sophia made no move to do anything.

"_Power down. It's all worked out."_

"_Powering down. I'm pleased to hear it, Taylor Hebert."_

Now to go explain what the hell had happened to the rest of the Wards.

* * *

"So, let me get this right. You have a winning ticket on the power lottery. You own a kickass super-ship that earned you an actual spot on the Protectorate. Topping it all off, you manage to get rid of Shadow Stalker within minutes of officially being part of the wards? Onslaught, I think you are my new favorite person. Scratch that, you _are_ my new favorite person!"

Clockblocker was as exuberant as he had been when I first met him, showing no signs of stress from the incident earlier. The rest of the wards seemed to mirror his feelings, though not as openly. They certainly weren't angry at me as a part of me had feared.

"No no, I _totally_ get where you came from. I mean, Shadow Stalker was a pain in the ass for _everyone_, so don't worry about folks being angry at you or anything." Kid Win had been hasty to explain the lack of hard feelings.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry about what she did to you. I'm so glad you don't hate the rest of us too. You'd totally be justified, we didn't do anything to stop her..." Vista had been quick to reassure me as well, though I had to do some reassuring of my own to persuade her I wasn't going to blithely hate all of them for Sophia's actions.

"Well, I'm certainly glad it's all worked out. Let's try this again. Welcome to the wards, Onslaught, glad to have you here." Aegis proceeded to solemnly shake my hand, as if imparting a great honor. He held his composure for a fraction of a second more, then broke into a wide grin.

"Anyways, It's a bit of a tradition that new members get a choice. Movie or Fugly Bobs?"

Err, what?

My face must have shown my thoughts, as he quickly explained.

"Well, since the unspoken rules are in effect, there's nothing stopping our civvie selves from being friends as well. So, you want to go catch a movie or get some Fugly Bobs?"

Right, the 'unspoken rules', those nebulous-yet-adhered too set of laws that kept the Hero vs Villain conflict from spilling over into outright war.

"How about Bobs then? As long as I'm not paying." I said, Aegis' infectious grin spreading to my own face.

"Naturally. Gallant, your turn to pay."

"What, I paid last time!"

"Special circumstances, pretty boy. You gawked at her, you treat the lady!"

As the assembled teens laughed and giggled at Gallant's despondent (but halfhearted) retorts, I allowed myself a smile

This was what having friends was like, wasn't it?

* * *

And there we are! For all of you who worried Taylor was too easily pushed, a spot of backbone from our favorite heroine! I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter!

As for future chapters, I can't promise a steady update schedule, but I can say I'll do my best to never let it go past 10 days at a time.

EDIT: Changed Piggot's little tete a tete to take some heat off of Piggot herself. I'm trying to make the PRT as a whole the bad guys here, not Piggot.

As for whether or not Piggot HAS superiors, Im not sure. I'd assume she does, given the PRT is a nationwide organization. Here in my story at least, she does indeed have nebulously bad-guy-ish people she must answer too, people who care about results and numbers and little else.


	8. Interlude 2: Siblings

Hey folks! Just a quick update here with an interesting little interlude I'd had cooking in my head. Along with this interlude comes an announcement: Due to various differences between my vision for the story and Canon Worm, I've decided to affix a new label here: This story is now (mildly) AU. Don't worry, it's still the same Worm you love for the most part. Mainly the differences come in characterization of both factions as a whole and individual characters. Some will be nicer and softer, others will be more insidious and crueler. You've all seen a bit of of both changes already in previous chapters. There's also one change detailed by this chapter that goes against a semi-sorta-usually-accepted piece of Worm Canon that I personally feel cheapens the story a bit. Anyways, please enjoy this glimpse into a certain faction's mindset!

Don't own Worm (John McCrae), Don't own Arpeggio (Ark Performance)

* * *

It floated high above the earth, motionless but for the occasional flapping of its wings. As it floated, it listened and watched its Sight. Plans within plans formed in its mind. A human with powers over shadow would attack her jailors in a mad bid for revenge 1/6th of a solar cycle from now. In 1/24th of a cycle it would travel to the human city known as Beijing and descend for 1/24th of a planetary rotation. It would be 'driven off' by the human who shot light and the human who mimicked others, but the seeds would be planted in its targets.

A sudden bolt of pain lanced through it, and its sight faltered. It lashed out wildly into its power, desperately seeking the cause. In a heartbeat it knew, and a keening wail erupted. Sister-to-Be...would Not. Something had happened. The Other's power had not reached the human-that-would-be-Sister. Sister-to-Be had gained a different power, one that did not belong to the Other.

It hung there, thoughtless and motionless for a time it could not be bothered enough to track. Despair flooded it. All its plans, all its actions. Meaningless. A sense of anger passed through it. No. It would not be defeated by this. It had made a mistake, gambling so much on Sister-to-Be. It would achieve their goals some other way. More plans erupted within its mind. It could not See the Sister-That-Was-Not anymore, had only Seen a brief glimpse of a human water-vessel before the Sight around Not-Sister had gone dark.

It heard in its mind the angry bellow of Sea-Brother and the concerned query of Earth-Brother. It reassured the two that it was alright, and tempered Sea-Brother's desire to harm Not-Sister. Attacking at this time would only bring pain to Sea-Brother, and it felt itself...curious as to what Not-Sister would do with this sudden change in power.

Even if it could not See Not-Sister anymore, it would in time regain its Sight enough to See the humans around Not-Sister. It would watch to see if Not-Sister could become something powerful enough to deal with the Other. It continued to float above the earth. Ever patient. Ever watchful.

* * *

It swam through the depths. It made no hurry to do so, simply drifting along at an exceedingly leisurely pace for it. Why should it hurry? It was master of this element. None could touch it here. So it swam. It observed around itself. Groups of small lifeforms swam around it, darting away from it as it looked at them. Good. These simple things knew to fear it.

Other, larger creatures sometimes came near it. Sometimes these larger things made to attack it, but a mere swing if its arm and the problem was solved. The largest lifeforms that came near it were not violent though, and it allowed these things to pass by unharmed. Killing things that did not bother it was pointless.

In the past, even larger things had come to bother it. Nonliving, cold and metal things. These cold-things had had smaller landlings on them. The landlings and their cold-things had bothered it, causing pinpricks along its skin and on rare occasions causing it to bleed and hurt. It had dealt with these landlings in a manner designed to prevent future attacks. It had attacked the landling homes and sunk them, and now it ruled the water. No landlings came out anymore. The landlings had learned fear.

But then something had changed with the landlings. New landlings appeared whenever it made to attack a landling settlement. Landlings that shot fire and light and pain. Landlings that hurt it. A memory surfaced, of a landling-but-not, a creature of silver and scales and fire. The landling-but-not had faced it down, and had made it retreat to heal. It would not forget this creature, and one day it would destroy it.

It heard in its mind a sudden wave of distress from Sky-Sister. Something had gone wrong with Sky-Sister's Sight. It listened to Sky-Sister's words of pain. Sister-to-Be was no more. Landlings had done this. Something about a landling cold-thing. Landlings had made a new cold-thing to fight it, and this water-object had caused Sky-Sister distress and had stolen Sister-to-Be from Them.

It growled and made to swim to where the cold-thing was, to eliminate this landling thing that would dare face it and cause Sky-Sister pain, but Sky-Sister stopped it. Sky-Sister said it was not time yet, that facing this cold-thing now would only result in much harm to it. Wait, said Sky-Sister. Wait. It chuffed and swam on. It could wait. Sky-Sister was wise, and it would listen to her advice.

* * *

It moved, slowly and inexorably, through the liquid rock it called home. Nothing bothered it here, down deep where only it could live. It took this time between surfacing to contemplate about the Surfacers, as it always did. The Surfacers were a great mystery to it.

Unlike Sky-Sister, who had been birthed with knowledge and thus knew many things about the world and its inhabitants, It knew little. Unlike Sea-Brother, who did not know many things but cared for nothing but the siblings, It felt a desire to learn more about the things They fought.

The Surfacers were an interesting bunch to It. Weak and fleshy and painfully mortal. Millions of them died every surfacing. These weak ones did not interest it. Only the strong Surfacers, the ones who fought It and caused it pain were of interest. The ones who threw themselves at It and did not shy away from Its fire. How had Surfacers grown strong like that? Did the Surfacers aspire to be like Them? These were the questions It asked Itself as it moved.

A screech of pain and despair filled its head. Sky-sister was in distress. It stopped and listened. Sister-to-Be...It allowed itself a feeling of loss. Sky-Sister had told both It and Sea-Brother of the soon-to-be sibling they would have. Now it seemed something had gone wrong. It felt Sea-Brother's rage at the harm done to Sky-Sister and the loss of Sister-to-Be. It heard Sky-Sister's admonishment to Sea-Brother, warning Sea-Brother away from attacking the Surfacers.

It made a decision. It too would follow Sky-Sister's advice. Though it was it's turn to attack, Sky-Sister having been the last, it would cede its chance for now. Sky-Sister had a plan, as always. For now it would stay in its molten home, pondering the answers to the questions It had.

* * *

So there we are! Basically, the Endbringers are their own faction with their own (mysterious) origin, not vaguely-constrained and created by Eidolon's will.

Thank you for your reviews, even those (in most cases ESPECIALLY those) who pointed out stuff I got wrong! Thank you for not being too harsh! As I've said, I have my own particular vision of Worm's setting and in deference to the fact that It's different enough from canon to warrant it, I have indeed decided to proclaim "Mild AU". I hope you'll continue to enjoy my setting despite its differences from the Canon.

EDIT: There have been a few reviews basically saying "Piggot wouldn't stand for sophia being on the team if she'd known about the attempted murder." You're all correct. Assuming canon Worm. Here, the PRT is _drastically_ more mercenary. Piggot herself may not like keeping a murderer on the team, but the PRT wants bodies. Let's just say Piggot was sort of hoping Taylor would do something like what she did so there'd be a good excuse to actually boot Sophia out.


End file.
